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THE COTTON 

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

OF THE UNITED STATES 



BY 



MELVIN THOMAS COPELAND, Ph.D. 

INSTRUCTOR IN COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATION 
IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY 



AWARDED THE DAVID A. WELLS PRIZE FOR 
THE YEAR 1911-12 AND PUBLISHED FROM 
THE INCOME OF THE DAVID A. WELLS FUND 




CAMBRIDGE 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY 

1912 



'A 



/ 



COPYRIGHT, 191 2 
BY HARVARD UNIVERSITY 



J* 

Or 



©CIA332266 
0/ 



TO 



MY FATHER AND MOTHER 






PREFACE 

Cotton manufacturing constitutes at the present time one 
of the most important industries in the United States, and in 
volume of output this country ranks second among the nations 
of the world, The task here undertaken is to set forth the 
relative position of the American cotton manufacturing industry 
by means of an international comparison of geographical factors, 
technical methods, labor conditions, and industrial and commer- 
cial organization. To provide a basis for comparisons and 
conclusions, the history of the industry in America is traced 
and its present organization analyzed. In the historical section 
attention is directed particularly to the period since i860, but 
in the first chapter the history of the industry prior to the out- 
break of the American Civil War is sketched. 

The work has necessarily been restricted at several points. 
The early history is not given more space because, for the pur- 
poses of this study, it has seemed advisable to concentrate upon 
the later period. A history of wages in American cotton mills 
has not been undertaken because of the vast amount of time 
that would be required to secure the data on which to base any 
reliable conclusions. In the second part very little is said con- 
cerning the European lace industry, because of its complicated 
character and the small size of our own lace manufacture. 
Finally, but slight reference has been made to the social condi- 
tions under which the operatives live, and no attempt has been 
made to compare cost of living in the different countries. The 
object has been to secure unity, and by no means to imply that 
the question of laborers' welfare or standard of living is less 
worthy of investigation. 

The data for the analysis of the present situation in America 
and for the comparison of European and American conditions 
have been obtained largely by personal investigation and inquiry. 



Vlll 



PREFACE 



Manufacturers, merchants, and other persons connected with 
the industry have been consulted, in New England, New 
York, Philadelphia, and the southern mill towns; in various 
towns in Lancashire; in Bremen, Berlin, Saxony, The Rhine 
Province, Bavaria, Wiirttemberg, and Alsace; in Switzerland; 
and in Paris, the " Nord," the Vosges, and Normandy. Mills 
have been visited in all these districts. More than two hundred 
persons have been interviewed personally and information has 
been obtained from others by correspondence. Statements of 
fact in the text not otherwise vouched for are usually based on 
such information. In inquiries of this sort the personal equation 
must be allowed for, but by checking up the statements of one 
man with those of others, I feel confident that, although a few 
errors and misstatements have doubtless crept into the book, 
they have been reduced to the minimum. 

Inasmuch as this monograph was submitted for the Wells 
Prize competition in November, 191 1, and delivered to the 
publishers in March, 191 2, the Tariff Board's Report on Cotton 
Manufactures appeared too late to permit me to utilize its data 
in this work. My own conclusions concerning comparative 
costs, however, are substantially the same as those of the Tariff 
Board. 

I began the study of the cotton manufacturing industry while 
holding the Charles Carroll Everett Fellowship of Bowdoin 
College, and continued my researches while an Austin Teaching 
Fellow at Harvard University. Later, to enable me to conduct 
the investigation of the industry in the European countries, I 
was granted a Frederick Sheldon Fellowship from the latter 
institution. Without this aid the task would not have been 
completed. 

To the numerous business and professional men who have 
assisted in the carrying on of the study grateful acknowledg- 
ment is due, particularly to Major H. L. Higginson, Mr. E. A. 
Whitman, Mr. Sidney Coolidge, Mr. S. S. Dale, and General 
S. M. Weld of Boston, Mr. H. L. Knoop and Mr. J. R. Barlow 
of Manchester, England, Mr. C. A. Albrecht of Bremen, and 



PREFACE IX 

Dr. Eduard Simon and Professor Schmoller of Berlin. I am 
deeply indebted to Professor F. W. Taussig for friendly advice 
and helpful criticism and to Professor Edwin F. Gay for constant 
encouragement, valuable suggestions, and a kindly oversight 
over the preparation of the manuscript. 

M. T. Copeland. 



CONTENTS 



PART I 
HISTORY AND PRESENT ORGANIZATION 

PAGE 

I. Growth Before i860 3 

II. Growth Since i860 17 

Spinning and Weaving 17 

Lace and Small-Wares 22 

Knit Goods 23 

y ' III. Geographical Distribution 27 

New England 27 

Middle Atlantic States 30 

Southern States 32 

IV. Technical Development 54 

Yarn and Cloth Manufacturing 54 

V. Technical Development (continued) 101 

Knitting 101 

VI. Labor 112 

Employees 112 

Labor Unions 123 

Wages 128 

VII. Textile Schools 134 

VIII. Scale of Production and Specialization 140 

Large Scale Production 140 

Specialization 145 

' IX. Associations and Combinations 154 

Associations ' 155 

Amalgamations 161 

Integration 171 

X. The Raw Cotton Market 176 

XL The Cloth Market 193 

History 193 

Present Organization 207 

XII. Export Trade 220 

XIII. Import Trade 232 

Cloth and Fancy Goods 232 

XIV. Import Trade (continued) 253 

Knit Goods 253 

XV. Dividends and Prices 262 



Xll 



CONTENTS 



PART II 
THE RELATIVE POSITION OF THE UNITED STATES 

PAGE 

XVI. Geographical Factors 275 

XVII. Relative Labor Conditions 287 

Wages 294 

Wage Agreements 305 

Textile Education 309 

XVIII. Plant; Scale of Production; Specialization ..... 312 

Plant ^r^.. 312 

Management 318 

Scale of Production 320 

Specialization 326 

XIX. Combinations 333 

Associations 333 

Amalgamations 339 

XX. Knit Goods 346 

General Comparison 346 

Scale of Production 348 

XXI. Raw Cotton Markets 354 

XXII. English Markets 361 

Manchester 361 

Nottingham 372 

XXIII. Continental Markets 374 

Germany 374 

France and Switzerland 382 

XXIV. Conclusions 386 

Appendix 391 

Bibliography 398 

INDEX 407 



PART I 
HISTORY AND PRESENT ORGANIZATION 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURING 
INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 

HISTORY AND PRESENT 
ORGANIZATION 

CHAPTER I 

GROWTH BEFORE i860 

Raw cotton was imported into New England from the West 
Indies before the middle of the seventeenth century, 1 and small 
importations continued during the following hundred and fifty 
years. 2 This material was spun into yarn and also used for 
other purposes. 3 But it was not till the last decade of the 
eighteenth century that the manufacture of cotton was begun 
on a considerable scale in the United States. 

The progress of the industry prior to 1790 had been handi- 
capped by the dearth of labor and capital. It may have been 
checked somewhat by the colonial policy of the British govern- 
ment. The jealousy with which England guarded the new in- 
ventions of cotton manufacturing machinery retarded their 
introduction into America. Finally the Revolutionary War 
and the subsequent period of industrial instability also hindered 
the expansion of the industry. But these last three factors 
were obstacles of a secondary order in comparison with the 
fundamental economic conditions in regard to labor and capital. 

After several ventures at different places in New England, 
the first successful cotton mill was started in Rhode Island in 
1790. The owners of the mill secured the services of Samuel 
Slater, a young Englishman who had worked in a cotton mill 

1 W. B. Weeden, Economic and Social History of New England, vol. i, pp. 163, 
170. 

2 Ibid., p. 681. 

3 A. M. Earle, Home Life in Colonial Days, p. 206. 

3 



4 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

in his native land. Seeking a broader opportunity, he came 
to this country in response to an advertisement of a society for 
the promotion of industrial growth. He was not able to bring 
with him any models or plans, owing to the severe restrictions 
imposed by the British government. Yet he constructed from 
memory the water-frame and other machines in use in Great 
Britain. Thus the elementary technical knowledge was sup- 
plied and one of the obstacles to the growth of the industry 
removed. 

During the next fifteen years the progress was slow. Several 
mills were established, but the conditions were not favorable 
to rapid development. In the first place the competition of 
the experienced British manufacturer was encountered. Fur- 
thermore the inhabitants of the sparsely populated country 
were engaged in other occupations, chiefly agriculture and 
foreign trade. Consequently the supply of labor was inadequate. 
Moreover the capital was invested in shipping and foreign com- 
merce. Another handicap was the difficulty of obtaining the 
raw material, since it was not till 1793 that the invention of the 
cotton gin made possible the utilization of the upland cotton 
of the South. 

The period of the second contest with England, however, 
witnessed a rapid expansion of the cotton manufacturing in- 
dustry in America. With the Embargo of 1807, the Non- 
Intercourse Act, and the War of 181 2, the supply of cotton 
goods from Great Britain was almost entirely cut off and the 
Americans were thrown upon their own resources. The high 
prices of cotton cloth attracted investors to this form of indus- 
trial enterprise, and at the same time the restrictions on foreign 
trade encouraged the withdrawal of capital from the sea. 

Several New England men who had accumulated wealth in 
foreign commerce now became interested in cotton mills in their 
own country. Mr. Nathan Appleton, for example, who played 
a prominent part in the financing of a number of the new mills, 
had until 1807 been engaged in the import trade. 1 Mr. P. T. 
Jackson, associated with Mr. Appleton and others in the pro- 

1 Professional and Industrial History of Suffolk County, vol. iii, p. 504. 



GROWTH BEFORE i860 5 

motion of cotton mills, had previously been interested in the 
India trade. 1 Mr. Francis C. Lowell was an importing merchant 
till 1 8 10, when the international dispute so cut into his business 
that he determined to become a cotton manufacturer, crowning 
his career in that field by the invention of a power loom. 

The statistics for this early period are not very reliable, and 
the estimates of various persons differ. Yet they all agree in 
showing that the number of spindles increased rapidly after 1807. 
The period following that year was the time when cotton spin- 
ning was firmly established as a factory industry in the United 
States, although it had been founded seventeen years earlier. 
The following figures were given by Mr. Woodbury in a report 
to Congress. 2 

Number of Spindles in the United States 

1805 4,500 1815 130,000 

1807 8,000 1820 220,000 

1809 31,000 1825 800,000 

1810 87,000 

Although the number of spindles continued to increase after 
the close of the war in 18 14, the young industry was beset with 
difficulties. The American manufacturers were no longer pro- 
tected from their foreign competitors by the prohibitions of 
war, and the British merchants began to ship large quantities 
of cotton goods to America. The influx of this pent-up stream 
threatened destruction by pushing the exorbitant prices down 
to a low level. 

From this ruinous competition the American manufacturers 
sought relief in two ways. For a time the tariff of 181 6 aided 
them. Of more importance, however, in warding off the immi- 
nent calamity, was their ingenuity in improving their machinery. 
All the early mills had been equipped according to the English 
plans introduced by Slater, but during the war the manufacturers 
began to experiment for themselves. The most important 
invention of that period was the power loom in 18 14 by Lowell, 

1 Professional and Industrial History of Suffolk County, vol. Hi, p. 506. 
8 24th Congress, 1st session, Executive Document, No. 146, p. 51. 



6 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 



who constructed the machine independently of any English 
plans or models. A year later looms of the English type were 
introduced, 1 and within a few years practically all of the cotton 
cloth manufactured in the country was woven on power looms, 
although in Pennsylvania yarn was sold for household use till 
1840. 2 

Another factor in the development of the industry was the 
increasing production of raw cotton in the southern states and 
the consequent decline in the price of the raw material. While 
this benefited the foreign manufacturers as well as those in 
America, it nevertheless stimulated a greater demand for cotton 
cloth and thus gave all a better chance. This cheaper material 
partially supplanted wool. Finally, the population of the country 
was becoming larger and wealthier; hence a larger market was 
afforded. 

The industry progressed steadily from 1830 to i860, as is 
indicated by the following table. The statistics for 1831 were 
collected by a committee appointed at the convention of " The 
Friends of Domestic Industry " 3 held in that year, and included 
only the mills in New England and the Middle States. The 
other figures are mainly from the census reports, and are 
admittedly inaccurate, though not without significance. 

Cotton Manufactures, 1831-1860 

Establishments Cotton Used Spindles Value of Product 

(pounds) 

1831 795 77,800,000 1,200,000 $32,000,000 

1840 1,240 113,100,000 2,300,000 46,400,000 

1850 1*004 276,100,000 3,600,000 61,700,000 

i860 IjOQI 422,700,000 5,200,000 115,700,000 

The greater efficiency of the machinery at the later dates is 
indicated by the increase in the consumption of raw cotton at a 
rate more rapid than that of the number of spindles. The 

1 J. L. Bishop, History of American Manufactures, vol. ii, p. 207. 

2 Eighty Years' Progress, vol. ii, p. 284. 

3 A convention of American manufacturers was held in New York, October 26, 
1 83 1, with a view to promoting their interests by tariff legislation. The sentiment 
was strongly protectionist, and its Report, from which these facts were ascertained, 
was issued in the name of " The Friends of Domestic Industry." 






GROWTH BEFORE i860 7 

quantity of raw cotton also increased relatively faster than the 
value of the product, thus reflecting the fall in the price of cloth 
as a result of cheaper cotton and more economical methods of 
manufacture. The number of establishments, on the other hand, 
did not increase after 1840; the mills were becoming larger, and 
the little ones passing out of existence. 

While the industry was progressing in the United States, it 
did not reach the proportions of the British cotton manufacturing 
industry. The total number of spindles in Great Britain was 
estimated at about 21 millions in 1850, 1 and at 30 millions in 
1 86 1. 2 The quantity of raw cotton used in England was corre- 
spondingly greater than in America. The same factors which 
had stimulated the introduction of cotton manufacturing in 
Great Britain in the last half of the eighteenth century, — 
climate, water-power, coal, inventive genius, and business 
ability, as well as freedom from social and political restraints, — 
these forces continued to promote the growth of the industry 
in later years. 

On the continent the development of the industry was re- 
tarded by unsettled political conditions and frequent wars, by 
numerous local customs barriers, and by contentment on the 
part of entrepreneurs and workmen with antiquated methods. 
In France there were in 1867 about 6 million spindles, 3 not 
including doubling spindles; in Germany the number of spindles 
in 1840 was 658,358,* and in i860 about 2 millions. 5 In both 
of these countries the industry was still carried on in small plants, 
and even in the homes. 

The first cotton mills in America were in New England and 
there they increased most rapidly during this period. Some 
were built in the Middle States, and a few elsewhere, but the 
conditions were not as favorable in other parts of the country 
as in New England, where there was abundant water-power and 
more available capital. The supply of labor to be had was also 

1 L. Levi, History of British Commerce, p. 410. 

2 Ibid., p. 410. 

3 H. Lecomte, Le Coton, p. 334. 

4 W. Lochmuller, Die Baumwollindustrie in Deutschland, p. 21. 
6 A. Oppel, Die Baumwolle, p. 656. 



8 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

relatively greater in that region of rock-ribbed hills and unfertile 
soil, where the " Yankee " sentiment encouraged thrift and 
industry on the part of all, including women and children. 

The geographical distribution of the industry in i860 is shown 
by the Census statistics of that year. 

Cotton Manufactures, i860 



Establishments 

New England . 570 
Middle States 340 


Cotton Used 
(pounds) 

283,700,000 

87,100,000 


Spindles 

3,800,000 
1,000,000 


Value of Product 

$79,400,000 
26,500,000 


South 159 

West 22 


43,900,000 
7,900,000 


300,000 
40,000 


8,100,000 
1,600,000 



New England with fifty-two per cent of the establishments in 
i860 had seventy-five per cent of the spindles, whereas the 
Middle States with thirty-one per cent of the establishments 
had only twenty per cent of the spindles. The same ratios held 
for the number of looms. New England not only had more 
mills than all the other states combined, but the mills in 
this section were larger than those elsewhere. The average 
number of spindles per establishment was 6,700 in New England 
as compared with 2,900 in the Middle States, and a still smaller 
number in the other parts of the country. The average New 
England mill, therefore, was at least twice as large as the average 
sized mill in the other states. 

Within the New England states the industry was centralized 
in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. These two states had 
forty-eight per cent of all the spindles in the country in i860, 
and Massachusetts alone had thirty per cent. In these states 
several large centres had grown up, — Providence, Fall River, 
and Lowell. Manchester in New Hampshire was another. In 
the Middle States, Philadelphia was the largest cotton manu- 
facturing city. 

Thus, prior to the Civil War the cotton manufacturing in- 
dustry not only expanded, but showed well-defined tendencies 
toward concentration and localization. Its internal structure, 
moreover, was also undergoing change. 

The American cotton manufacturers early began to develop 



GROWTH BEFORE i860 9 

machines especially suited to the prevailing industrial condi- 
tions. They were urged on by the dearth of labor to supplant 
human muscle and eyesight as far as possible with mechanical 
power and automatic appliances. They found it economical 
to seek the greatest possible output per operative. On this 
depended the prosperity of the growing industry. The machin- 
ery in all departments was steadily improved so as to accomplish 
more and better work. Mention has already been made of the 
invention and adoption of the power loom, one of the first accom- 
plishments. Another invention, of especial significance to the 
student of the later history of the industry, was that of the ring 
spindle, about 1830, by Mr. Jenks, a pupil of Slater. 1 It was a 
modification of the throstle, which had been developed from the 
water-frame of Arkwright. The modification consisted in the 
replacing of the double armed flyer of the throstle by a wire, or 
" traveller," running on a fixed steel ring. At first it was applied 
only to twisting, but soon came to be used for spinning and 
even before the Civil War competed on about equal terms with 
the mule which had been introduced from England. • 

The use of improved machinery run at high speed and equipped 
with various automatic stop motions gave a comparatively 
large output per machine and per unit of labor. One of the 
most trustworthy accounts of the state of the industry prior to 
i860 is that written in 1840 by James Montgomery, who had 
been engaged in cotton manufacturing in Great Britain before 
coming to America. He commented on the greater use of stop- 
motion devices in the American mills, 2 and remarked that " the 
factories at Lowell produced a greater quantity of yarn and cloth 
from each spindle and loom (in a given time) than was produced 
in any other factories, without exception, in the world." 3 

England, in the meantime, was advancing in technical develop- 
ment. The mule, for example, was being increased in length 
and improved in the working parts. At first the mule contained 
about 144 spindles, but by 1835 the average length was over 300 

1 Eighty Years' Progress, vol. ii, p. 286. 

2 J. Montgomery, Cotton Manufacture, p. 56. 
a Ibid., p. 162. 



IO THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

spindles, and by i860 the latter number had been doubled. 1 
The self-acting mule was invented about 1825 and resulted in a 
reduction of the amount of labor necessary for spinning cotton 
yarn. The self-actor, however, although improved from time to 
time, was used only for spinning coarse counts till after i860. 

In weaving, to take another department, the use of the power 
loom by English manufacturers began before it did in the United 
States. But the hand loom continued to be employed in Great 
Britain for weaving cotton cloth after it had been entirely dis- 
pensed with in this country. The difficulties with which the 
transition was made in England are recorded in the Parliamentary 
reports on the hand-loom weavers and their sufferings. The 
invention of the Blackburn loom in 1828 sounded the knell of 
the hand loom, but it was not entirely eliminated till after 1850. 

The American manufacturers not only were the first to adopt 
the power loom exclusively but they secured a relatively greater 
output per laborer by inducing the weavers to tend more looms. 
In i860 the average number of looms per weaver was four in 
the United States, and two in Great Britain; 2 the higher earnings 
in the former country being accompanied by greater produc- 
tivity. 

On the Continent new machines and new methods did not 
find a ready acceptance. Only a fourth of the spindles in opera- 
tion in France in i860 were self-acting mules. 3 In the same 
country the power loom had hardly come into use at that date 4 
and did not oust the hand loom till some years later. 5 Likewise 
in Germany hand mules and hand looms were in general use in 
i860. 6 Under such circumstances the French and Germans were 
not very dangerous competitors, at least on coarse plain goods 
which could be produced in large quantities. 

Cotton manufacturing developed earlier in Great Britain 
than in the United States and in i860 there were nearly six times 

1 T. Ellison, Cotton Trade of Great Britain, pp. 65-66. 

2 S. Batchelder, Early Progress of the Cotton Manufacture, p. 90. 

3 L. Ame, Les Tarifs de Douanes, vol. i, p. 312. 

4 Ibid., pp. 312, 395. 

6 Enquete sur I'Etat de V Industrie Textile, vol. ii, p. 12; vol. iv, p. 100. 
6 A. Oppel, Die Baumwolle, p. 656. 



GROWTH BEFORE i860 II 

as many spindles and slightly over three times as many power 
looms in operation in the former country. Nevertheless the 
American industry was in a healthy condition and was ahead of 
the Continental European. The American manufacturers had 
met the requirements of the conditions incident to a young coun- 
try with a large area of fertile agricultural land and a consequently 
high scale of wages. By skillful adjustment of labor and machin- 
ery they had established themselves, in the manufacture of the 
coarser fabrics, on a firm competitive basis. The situation in 
i860 was summed up by Mr. Samuel Batchelder, a competent 
critic, who said: " The advantage of manufacturing in England 
on account of wages is much less than we have generally supposed. 
. . . Fine articles, or such as require experience and skill, 
can undoubtedly be produced cheaper there than here; but it is 
questionable whether heavy goods such as drilling and sheeting, 
which make up a very large proportion of the consumption of 
this country, can be produced cheaper than in the United 
States." 1 

The substitution of machinery for labor in American cotton 
mills is roughly indicated by the smaller relative increase in the 
number of persons employed as compared with the increase in 
the number of spindles. The latter was over four times as great 
in i860 as in 1831, while the former was only twice as large. 
The following table gives the details of the changes in number of 
employees. The statistics for 183 1 are those collected by " The 
Friends of Domestic Industry," the others are Census figures. 

Employees in Cotton Mills 

Total Male Female Children 

1831 62,177 18,359 33,5o6 4,691 

1840... 72,H9 



1850 .92,286 33,150 59,136 

i860 122,028 46,859 75,169 



The children were classed in the Census returns only according 
to sex. Hence it is not possible to ascertain the exact composi- 
tion of the labor force. As to the prevalence of child labor, 

1 S. Batchelder, Early Progress of the Cotton Manufacture, p. 91. 



12 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Miss Abbott has concluded that " children formed a very large 
proportion of the total number of employees." l Since there is 
no reason to suppose that the girls greatly outnumbered the 
boys, we may conclude that the number of women employed 
in cotton mills was considerably in excess of the number of men. 

The labor during the first five decades of the nineteenth cen- 
tury was supplied mainly by the native population, that is by 
descendants of the English settlers. The sons and daughters 
of the farmers entered the mills to get a start in life. But they 
looked upon it merely as a temporary employment, frugally 
saving their earnings to help pay for a farm, to enter business, or, 
in the case of the young women, to assist in furnishing a home. 
No stigma was attached to work of this sort; on the contrary 
it was looked upon with favor by a majority of the people. 

Inasmuch as the operatives were an independent class, and 
since they were frequently changing, the managers felt compelled 
to make the environment as attractive as possible. 2 It is true 
that the hours were long, from sunrise to sunset, but there was 
an absence of abusive treatment and unhealthy conditions. 
This served especially to protect the children. Although child 
labor was practically unregulated before i860, there seems to 
have been no brutality, 3 and the children in the American mills 
were not subjected to those abuses which make the early history 
of the English cotton factory so dark. 4 The superior conditions 
in the American mills were due in part to the fact that there 
were no pauper apprentices and that the children were usually 
under the oversight of parents or relatives. Then, too, perhaps 
a warning had been taken from the reports of conditions in Eng- 
land. But the absence of a permanent operative class and the 
high moral standards of the factory employees had most to do 
with eliminating abuse. 

1 Edith Abbott, " Study of the Early History of Child Labor in America," 
American Journal of Sociology, vol. xiv, p. 25. 

2 H. H. Robinson, Loom and Spindle, p. 71. 

3 Edith Abbott, op. cit., p. 34. 

4 Mr. Persons has concluded that the conditions of child labor in New England 
mills early in the nineteenth century were " immeasurably above the English 
level." C. E. Persons, M. Parton, and M. Moses, Labor Laws and their Enforce- 
ment, p. 5. 



GROWTH BEFORE i860 1 3 

The frequently changing supply of labor exerted an influence 
in other directions. One of these was technique. It was neces- 
sary to adopt machinery which did not require a great amount 
of skill, since, as Mr. Batchelder phrased it " the greater part 
of those at work in the mills were only a succession of learners, 
who left the business as soon as they began to acquire some skill 
and experience." * The automatic devices, the ring spindle, 
and other inventions not only diminished the quantity of labor 
required, but made its quality less important. The introduc- 
tion of immigrant labor took place with less friction than would 
have been possible had there been a fixed operative class, and 
the technical improvements were likewise favorable to the 
utilization of the unskilled foreigner, since it made little difference 
to the manager whether he employed unskilled Americans or 
unskilled Irishmen. The exact date when the employment of 
immigrants in our cotton mills began is uncertain, but it was 
before 1836, since in that year Miss Martineau wrote: " A large 
proportion of the labor in the Lowell factories is supplied by 
women. Much of the rest is furnished by immigrants. I saw 
English, Irish, and Scotch operatives." 2 The male immigrants 
were at first employed only for the rough work around the mill, 
but they gradually assumed positions as machine tenders. 
Foreign women appeared in the mills somewhat later. Mr. 
Miles collected statistics for the nationality of the females 
employed in the Lowell mills in 1847, 3 which show that at that 
date the greater part of the women were of New England parent- 
age, although a few were from Ireland. 

The stream of immigrants, however, which became large in 
volume after 1845, turned at once toward the cotton mills as 
the most available point whence to begin the industrial ascent 
in the new country. The Irish were the first to come in large 
numbers and they began to take the places of the native em- 
ployees as the latter dropped out. The transition was made 
quietly, for the most part, and attracted little comment from 
contemporary writers. 

1 S. Batchelder, Early Progress of the Cotton Manufacture, p. 89. 

2 H. Martineau, Society in America, vol. ii, p. 55. 

3 H. A. Miles, Lowell as it was and as it is, p. 185. 



14 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Neither the machinery nor the labor employed in the United 
States at this period were favorable to the manufacture of fine 
or fancy cloths. The greatest demand, moreover, was for plain 
coarse and medium fabrics, such as could be most economically 
manufactured in the country. Expensive goods, in the pro- 
duction of which more labor and more skill were required, were 
obtained from Europe. 

The import trade in cotton goods, therefore, was made up 
largely of the more expensive fabrics and fancy articles. The 
average annual value of the imports increased from about nine 
million dollars in the decade 1821-1830 to twenty-six and a 
half million dollars in the decade 1851-1860, or nearly three- 
fold. The increase in volume of imports was especially great 
during the last decade of this period, when the average annual 
value nearly doubled. 1 

Imports of Cotton Manufactures, 1821-1860 2 
{Average annual value) 

Total Plain Cloth Colored Cloth Knit Goods All Other 

1821-1830 $9,200,000 $2,900,000 $5,300,000 $ 500,000 $ 500,000 

1831-1840 II,6oo,000 2,100,000 7,500,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 

1841-1850 13,700,000 1,700,000 8,800,000 1,200,000 2,100,000 

1851-1860 26,600,000 no data no data 2,800,000 6,000,000 

Owing to an incomplete classification during three years of 
the last decade, it is not possible to separate the average value 
of plain cloth from the average value of colored cloth. But the 
figures for i860, the year of the largest importation up to that 
time, reflect what had been taking place during the decade. 
In i860 the total value of the cotton manufactures imported 
was $38,200,000. The value of the plain cloth imported was 
$1,200,000; of colored cloth, $25,900,000; and of all other cotton 
goods, $11,100,000; thus those goods classed as "printed, 
painted, or colored " heavily predominated. 

From 1850 to i860 was the period of greatest prosperity for 
the cotton industry in this country up to that time, although 
the duties were low and the importation of cotton goods nearly 

1 All imports increased rapidly during these years. 

2 U. S. Commerce and Navigation Reports. 



GROWTH BEFORE i860 1 5 

doubled. This points to the conclusion that the general indus- 
trial conditions and the prosperity of the country had more to 
do with the progress of the industry than any stimulating tariff. 
After the industry was well established it mattered little to the 
cotton manufacturers whether the tariff was high or low. The 
act of 18 1 6 probably did serve to assist the infant industry, and 
later acts may have somewhat encouraged the production of 
goods of a higher grade. 1 But the latter was also fostered by 
the technical improvements, the knowledge and experience 
acquired by the manufacturers, and the increasing demand which 
resulted from the accumulation of wealth in the country. By 
i860, moreover, the protective sentiment was on the wane among 
American cotton manufacturers, since, as Mr. Webber stated, 
" the business of cotton manufacture was by that time (1850) 
so firmly established as to be little affected by changes in legis- 
lation in regard to duties on the coarser fabrics required for 
domestic consumption, to which American machinery had been 
adapted." 2 

The production of cotton cloth in the United States prior to 
i860 was largely for the home market. The export trade had 
not become extensive. 

Exports of Cotton Manufactures 

{Average annual value) 

Total Plain Cloth Colored Cloth All Other 

1826-1830 $1,200,000 $920,000 $80,000 $170,000 

1831-1840 2,520,000 2,060,000 310,000 150,000 

1841-1850 3,960,000 3,180,000 420,000 360,000 

1851-1860 7,310,000 3,740,000 1,830,000 1,740,000 

Throughout the thirty-five years plain cloth constituted the 
bulk of the exports, and was disposed of chiefly in Asia. The 
evident expansion of the export trade from 1850 to i860 em- 
phasized the prosperity of the industry in spite of low tariff 
duties and the large importation of cotton goods. 

1 A detailed discussion of the various tariff acts will be found in Taussig, Tariff 
History of the United States. 

2 S. Webber, History of Cotton Manufacture in the United States, p. 57. 



1 6 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

At just this time, when the rate of progress was great, the war 
broke out. For five years the industry was disrupted not only 
by the disarrangement of capital, labor, and markets, but by 
the impossibility of securing raw material. Thus there is prac- 
tically a void in the history of the industry during the period 
of conflict. However, resuscitation was rapid after 1865 and 
cotton manufacturing progressed along the previous lines of 
development. The war caused but a slight break in the 
tendency toward larger scale of production and more efficient 
organization. It made easier the substitution of immigrants 
for native laborers, yet did not originate that substitution. 
After 1865, just as before i860, the relatively high wages in this 
country placed a premium upon labor-saving devices, which 
stimulated invention. Moreover the machinery had to be 
adapted to the utilization of untrained workers. The war 
brought in its train the era of high protection. As a result 
of the tariff or other causes the production of fine and fancy 
fabrics has been augmented, but the output still consists predomi- 
nantly of coarse plain cloth for the domestic market. The 
break caused by the Civil War, therefore, did not divert the 
development of the American cotton manufacturing industry 
into new lines. 



CHAPTER II 

GROWTH SINCE i860 

The forces which have influenced the growth of the American 
cotton manufacturing industry during the last fifty years can 
best be analyzed after the magnitude of that growth has been 
set forth. Hence we will first consider the general statistics 
which indicate the volume of expansion. The manufacture of 
yarn and cloth, is the most important branch of the industry, 
yet the secondary industries of lace, small-wares, and knit-goods 
manufacturing demand attention. To avoid confusion this 
statistical chapter is divided into three sections. 

Spinning and Weaving 

The following table, compiled from Census reports, indicates 
the growth of the industry in the United States since i860. 

Cotton Manufactures, 1860-1910 1 





Establish- 
ments 


Spindles 
(millions) 


Cotton 

Used 

(million pounds) 


Employees Value of 
Product 
(million dollars) 


Exports 
(million 
dollars) 


Imports 
(million 
dollars) 


i860.. 


. . 1,091 


5-2 


422.7 


122,028 


II5-7 


IO.9 


38.2 


1870.. 


•• 956 


7-1 


398.3 


135,369 


177.5 


3.8 


23-4 


1880. . 


-. 756 


IO.7 


750.3 


174,659 


192. 1 


10.0 


29.9 


1890.. 


.. 905 


14.2 


I,Il8.0 


218,876 


268.O 


10.0 


29.9 


1900. . 


•• 973 


19.O 


1,814.0 


297,929 


332.8 


24.0 


41.3 


1905 •• 


. . 1,077 


23.2 


1,873-1 


310,458 


442.5 


49.7 


48.9 


1910. . 


. . 1,208 


27.4 


2,332.2 


371,120 


616.5 


33-4 


66.5 



These statistics are subject to the criticism which may be directed 
against all of our Census statistics. Although the methods have 
tended to become more accurate, they have varied from Census 
to Census. Some of the statistics given by the Census have 
been deemed too misleading and insignificant to be included. 
The amount of capital invested, for example, cannot be ascer- 
tained from the Census because of its duplications and ever- 

1 The data for 19 10 are based on newspaper reports of statements issued by the 
Director of the Census. 

17 



1 8 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

varying definitions. 1 The above figures for the cotton industry, 
however, are fairly trustworthy for a general comparison. 

The number of establishments has not been affected by changes 
in the standard, since there were few very small plants in this 
industry. They were nearly all well above the dividing line. 2 
Similarly with value of product, there has been little duplication 
in the statistics for this industry since most of the mills manu- 
facture the raw cotton into cloth and the product of one mill 
does not to a great extent become the raw material for other 
mills included above. Prior to 1900 what have since been 
classed as "cotton small-wares," — braids, trimmings, etc., — 
were included with cotton goods proper, but they were of such 
relatively small amount that the error involved is immaterial. 

1 The Census itself condemns the statistics for capital, which by the Congres- 
sional Census Act it was required to collect. " In the inquiry concerning capital, 
comparisons have no real statistical value prior to the Census of 1890. The form 
of inquiry regarding capital, in all Censuses down to and including 1880, was so 
vague and general in its character that it cannot be assumed that any true pro- 
portion exists between the statistics on this subject, as elicited prior to 1890. At 
the Census of 1880, the question read: ' Capital (real and personal invested in 
the business).' At the Census of 1890, live capital, i. e., cash on hand, bills re- 
ceivable, unsettled ledger accounts, raw materials, stock in the process of manu- 
facture, finished product on hand, and other sundries, was for the first time included 
as a separate distinct item of capital." (12th U. S. Census, vol. vii, p. lxi.) Again 
it states: "The attempt to measure capital absolutely and accurately has never 
yet been successful in a Census in the United States or elsewhere," and it quotes 
approvingly the statement made by General Walker in the 9th Census report: 
" The Census returns of capital invested in manufactures are entirely untrust- 
worthy and delusive. . . . The results are and must remain wholly worthless." 
(Ibid., p. xcvii.) The difficulties in satisfactorily defining capital for Census 
purposes have been heretofore and will very likely remain insuperable. The value 
of the land may be dependent upon its use as a factory site. The value of rented 
property may be included, but if so on what basis is it to be capitalized ? Is 
machinery to be entered at its original cost, or its present market value ? Are 
outside investments, in other manufacturing or financial enterprises, to be included ? 
Are good will, patents, and trade marks to be capitalized ? Finally, is credit to 
be taken into account, as was done in 1890 and 1900, when unpaid accounts due, 
for instance, were returned as capital? It is because of the worthlessness of such 
estimates of capital that they have not been included above. 

2 The line of demarcation in determining what was to be called an " establish- 
ment," which the United States Census has followed, has been to exclude from the 
statistics all plants with an annual product of less than $500. Moreover no hand 
trades were canvassed, in 1900 at least, which were not carried on in a shop. 12th 
U. S. Census, vol. vii, p. xxxix. 



GROWTH SINCE i860 1 9 

In pursuance of the tendency for the smaller plants to dis- 
appear, which became apparent after 1840, the statistics show 
a decline in the number of establishments between i860 and 
1880. This process of disappearance or absorption continued 
in New England after 1880, but was counter-balanced in the 
summary for the whole country by the increase in the number of 
establishments in the South. 

The number of spindles in operation is the best standard for 
measuring the size of the cotton manufacturing industry. On 
this basis cotton manufacturing was four and one-half times as 
extensive in the United States in 1905 as in i860. During the 
same interval the number of spindles in Great Britain increased 
from thirty 1 millions to forty-eight and one-half millions, 2 an 
increase greater absolutely, but smaller relatively. Whereas 
in i860 Great Britain had six times as many spindles as the 
United States, in 1905 the number was only twice as great. On 
the Continent, Germany has shown the greatest expansion in 
cotton manufacturing, the number of spindles increasing from 
2,235,000 in 1 86 1 3 to 8,435,000 in 1901. 4 Part of this increase 
was due to the acquisition of Alsace and its cotton mills at the 
termination of the Franco-Prussian war. In France, the number 
of spindles was 4,600,000 in 1876 5 and 6,150,000 in 1903. 6 Italy 
in 1876 had 715,300 cotton spinning spindles and in 1903, 1,694- 
000. 7 In Russia there was an increase from 3,000,000 spindles 
1878 8 to 6,555,000 in 1904. 9 Although the expansion has been 
important in these Continental countries, England and the 
United States have remained far in the lead. In fact England 
has acquired more spindles since 1900 than are in operation in 
any one Continental country. 

1 T. Ellison, Cotton Trade of Great Britain, p. 65. 

2 Commercial and Financial Chronicle. 

3 H. Lecomte, Le Colon, p. 335. 

4 Enquite sur V Etat de ITndustrie Textile, vol. v, p. 458. 
6 H. Lecomte, op. cit., p. 335. 

6 Enquite, op. cit., p. 458. 

7 Annuario Statistico Italiano, 1907. 

8 H. Lecomte, op. cit., p. 335. 

9 Enquite, op. cit., p. 458. 



20 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

In addition to the statistics for the number of spindles, we 
also have those for looms, but the latter numbers are not as 
good indices of growth because of the variations in capacity 
according to the width of the loom and the complexity of design. 

The number of looms in American mills was 126,000 in i860, 
451,000 in 1900, and 541,000 in 1905; in British mills 400,000 
in i860 and 680,000 in 1903. The increase was greater both 
absolutely and relatively in America. Now, while there are 
twice as many spindles in Great Britain as in the United States, 
there are only fifty per cent more looms. This is due, in the 
first place, to sale of yarn for auxiliary trades, such as lace making, 
and for export from Great Britain; in the second place, to the 
larger output of yarn per spindle in America; and, finally, to 
the greater productivity of the English looms, which are generally 
run at a higher speed than American looms. 

The quantity of raw cotton used in American mills was almost 
four and one-half times as great in 1905 as in i860. The quan- 
tity consumed per spindle was 81.3 lbs., in i860, and 95.5 lbs. 
in 1900, but only 80.7 lbs. in 1905. The decline at the last date 
was caused by unsettled conditions and protracted idleness in 
some of the northern mill centres during the Census year. And 
in comparing the present consumption per spindle with that of 
i860, it must not be forgotten that more fine yarn is now spun, 
whereby the average weight per spindle is relatively diminished. 
It is also to be added that the mills most affected by the distur- 
bances of 1904-05 were those spinning coarser counts. 

The average annual consumption of raw cotton in Great 
Britain in 1856-60 was 947.3 million pounds; in 1905, 1,654.9 
million pounds. Whereas England used twice as much cotton 
as the United States in i860, the total quantity is now actually 
less than that taken by the American mills. Twice as many 
spindles are employed in England for spinning a smaller quantity 
of cotton than is used in America. This is explained by the larger 
production of fine yarn in England and the more extensive use 
of the mule, on which the output per spindle is about two-thirds 
of that on the ring frame. 

On the Continent of Europe the quantity of cotton consumed 



GROWTH SINCE i860 21 

averaged 627.4 million pounds per year in 1856-60; and 2,487 
million pounds in 1901-05. Not till 1886 did the Continental 
spinners take a quantity of raw cotton equal to that used in 
Great Britain, but since that date their " takings " have shown 
a constantly increasing excess. The greater consumption per 
spindle on the Continent, as in the United States, arises from a 
relatively larger number of ring spindles and the predominance 
of coarse counts. 

The number of persons employed in American cotton factories 
was only three times as great in 1905 as in i860 although the 
number of spindles and quantity of raw cotton manufactured had 
risen in greater ratio. The product per operative was therefore 
greater at the later date; it averaged 9,412 square yards of cloth 
in i860 and 15,134 square yards in 1905. This was brought 
about by the relative decline in the number of children employed 
and particularly by the improvements in machinery. 

The character of the cotton goods produced in the United 
States has not been greatly changed since i860. The cloth is 
generally of better quality and several mills are now manufac- 
turing fine and fancy fabrics. Yet, to quote from the Census 
of 1905, 1 " Almost three-fourths of the yardage of all the woven 
goods reported falls under the classification of coarse or medium 
counts — print cloths, sheetings and shirtings, drills, ticks, 
denims and stripes, duck and bagging. " Over one-half of the 
yarn spun in American mills is still coarser than number 20, 
and five-sixths of the remainder is from number 21 to number 
40 in fineness. 2 The bulk of it, evidently, is of coarse and low 
medium counts. 3 The proportions for the Continental spinning 
industry are approximately the same, but England would show 
a higher percentage of fine yarn. 

The domestic market has continued to be the chief goal of 
the American cotton manufacturers and they have supplied the 

1 U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 74, p. 45. 

2 Ibid. , p. 48. 

3 The number (or count) of cotton yarn is the number of hanks, of 840 yards 
each, required to make one pound in weight. The finer the yarn, therefore, the 
higher the number. Nos. 1 to 20 are called coarse, nos. 20 to 60 medium, and 
over no. 60 fine. 



22 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

greater part of that demand. From a total production valued 
at more than $616,000,000 in 19 10 only $33,400,000 was ex- 
ported. The imports, including not merely cotton cloth but all 
fabrics of cotton, — hosiery, embroidery, laces, etc., amounted 
to $66,500,000. But the imports of cloth were only $9,000,000, 
or considerably less than two per cent of the value of the cloth 
manufactured within the country. 

The American cotton manufacturing industry, therefore, has 
expanded during the last fifty years at a pace fast enough to 
keep up with a rapidly increasing population. This expansion 
of cloth manufacturing has been supplemented by a similar 
development of the production of other fabrics made of cotton. 

Lace and Small-Wares 

Although the statistics for the lace and lace-curtain manufac- 
ture are included by the Census under woven goods, the growth 
of this subsidiary branch of the industry is worthy of separate 
consideration. Like the other supplementary branches it has 
developed recently, and has its own peculiarities. The manu- 
facture of lace curtains was begun in the United States in 1885, l 
and 642,061 square yards of lace and lace curtains were reported 
at the Census of 1890. The value of this product was $354,987. 
In 1900 the Census reported 9 establishments with 183 machines, 
employing 2,383 persons, and producing 37,825,000 square 
yards, valued at $3,585,000. By 1905 the number of lace 
machines had increased to 417; the number of establishments 
to 13; the number of employees to 4,502; and the product to 
53,451,000 square yards, valued at $7,203,000. In spite of the 
increased production, however, more lace is imported than is 
made in this country. In 1900 the value of the imports of lace 
and embroideries was $19,200,000; in 1905, $25,900,000. 

The miscellaneous products of cotton, not included in the 
preceding categories, are grouped by the Census as " small- 
wares." " At the Census of 1900 for the first time a separate 
classification was made of the establishments producing cotton 
small-wares, including cotton embroideries, edgings, boot and 

1 Report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs, Pennsylvania, 1899, p. 56. 



GROWTH SINCE i860 23 

shoe lacings, corset lacings, lamp and stove wicks, tapes, webbings, 
and trimmings." l At that date there were 82 establishments 
of this class, employing 4,932 persons and having an aggregate 
product valued at $6,394,164. In 1905 the number of establish- 
ments had decreased to 77, but the number of employees had 
risen to 5,416, and the value of the product to $8,016,1 86. 2 
These industries are too heterogeneous to "permit of further 
analysis. 

Knit Goods 

The second half of the nineteenth century has witnessed the 
emergence of knit-goods manufacturing from the household 
stage into a factory industry. Before 1850 hosiery was chiefly 
the product of the knitting needle, and many a frugal American 
housewife spent her odd moments in making stockings for her 
family. Some were thus made at home for sale and some manu- 
factured in small mills. That system of production has since 
yielded to the factory, with several far-reaching effects. Knitted 
undergarments have superseded the flannels worn a generation 
ago, and cotton underwear and cotton stockings are far more 
common than before this industrial change took place. With 
the development of the knit-goods industry relatively more 
cotton and less woolen yarn has been manufactured in this 
form. 

A confusion of statistics and other data places serious ob- 
stacles in the path of the investigator who wishes to trace the 
history of a single branch of the knit-goods industry. The 
same methods and machines serve for knitting woolen, cotton, 
and silk yarns. Many knitting mills use more than one sort 
of yarn. And some products contain a mixture of two fibres. 

The Census reports for knit-goods manufacturing have be- 
come more elaborate with the general development of such 
statistical inquiries and with the progress of this particular 
industry. But for purposes of comparison it is possible to give 
only the statistics which include all knit goods. 

1 12th U. S. Census, vol. ix, p. 70. 

2 In 19 10 the number of employees was 7,698 and the value of the product 
$13,174,111. 



24 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Knit Goods 1 

Establishments Machines Employees Value of Product 

i860 197 no data 9,100 $7,300,000 

1870 248 5,625 14,800 18,400,000 

1880 359 12,659 28,900 29,200,000 

1890 796 36,327 59,600 67,200,000 

1900 921 69,047 83,400 95,500,000 

1905 1,079 88,374 103,700 136,600,000 

1910 i>374 no data 129,300 200,100,000 

The number of establishments was about seven times as great 
in 1 9 10 as in i860, the number of employees over fourteen times 
as great, and the product nearly thirty times as high in value. 
All this has taken place in fifty years! The advance has been 
especially rapid since 1880. 

The relative importance of the different branches of the 
industry is shown by a table of classified products. 

Knit Goods 

{In thousands) 

1005 1900 1800 1880 

HOSIERY 

Woolen 

Half Hose doz. prs. 1,310 940 1,361 288 

Value $3,402 $i,739 $2,893 not stated 

Hose doz. prs. 1,084 i,i77 2,243 1,216 

Value $2,205 $2,268 $4,723 not stated 

Merino 

Half Hose doz. prs. 1,611 958 376 627 

Value $2,215 $1,385 $605 not stated 

Hose doz. prs. 746 437 433 2,653 

Value $1,182 $660 $791 not stated 

Cotton 

Half Hose doz. prs. 15,223 11,352 5,342 

Value $11,822 $7,907 $3,937 

Hose doz. prs. 24,170 15,028 7,3§7 

Value $22,765 $13,276 $6,214 

UNDERWEAR 

Shirts and Drawers 

Woolen doz. 485 1,085 1,089 

Value $3,648 $4,981 $8,882 

Merino doz. 2,114 2,675 2,526 

Value $13,032 $13,294 $15,056 

Cotton doz. 17,108 12,058 3,247 

Value $39,659 $26,883 $9,024 

1 Data for 1910 obtained from preliminary statement published in newspapers. 



GROWTH SINCE i860 2$ 

Knit Goods — Underwear (continued). 

1905 1900 1890 1880 
Combination Suits 

Woolen doz. 68 10 

Value $965 $202 

Merino doz. 105 140 

Value $1,200 $1,133 

Cotton doz. 1,260 824 

Value $4,479 $2,240 

In addition to these articles there was a small production of 
silk knit goods, sweaters, shawls, and minor specialties. 

The elaboration of the classification at each succeeding Census 
emphasizes the increasing diversification of product. From a 
simple statement of the total production of hosiery and under- 
wear as given in i860, the new divisions and sub-divisions have 
been introduced until at the Census of 1900 twenty-four classes 
of cotton and woolen hosiery and underwear were separately 
enumerated. In i860, 1,906,000 dozen pairs of hose and half- 
hose were manufactured in our factories, as compared with the 
combined output of 62,825,000 dozen pairs in 191 o. In 1870 
the product was reported as 2,917,000 dozen pairs of woolen 
and mixed hose and half hose, and 2,600,000 dozen pairs made of 
cotton. In 1880 the woolen and mixed hosiery were separated 
(see table) but cotton hose and half-hose were still enumerated 
together, their total being 2,491,000 dozen pairs. In 1890, 
however, they too were fully classified. 

The first classification of underwear also appeared in the 
Census of 1890, the totals at the previous Census dates having 
been 550,000 dozen shirts and drawers of all descriptions in 
i860; 1,132,000 dozen in 1870; and 2,671,000 dozen in 1880. 
Combination suits are such a recent innovation that no mention of 
them was made till 1900. 

The manufacture of cotton knit goods has advanced at a 
faster rate than any of the other branches of the knitting indus- 
try. The rapid increase in the output of cotton hosiery after 
1880 and of cotton underwear after 1890 was due to the technical 
inventions introduced at those dates. Woolen knit goods, on 
the contrary, have declined in volume of output and their place 



26 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

has been only partially filled by goods of mixed cotton and wool, 
called " merino." 

The success of cotton knit goods and their substitution for 
woolen articles has resulted from the lower prices at which they 
are sold. Raw cotton is cheaper than raw wool, and in the 
United States the normal difference is enhanced by the high 
import duty on the latter. The cost of spinning is also greater 
for wool than for cotton, and the price of the yarn thereby 
augmented. Finally, cotton yarn lends itself with greater readi- 
ness to manipulation by rapidly moving machinery; hence 
the cost of knitting is less. In consequence of these advantages 
the cotton fabrics can be sold more cheaply, and are favored by 
the demand where climatic conditions are not too rigorous. 

This preHminary survey prepares the way for the detailed 
discussion of the several aspects of the growth of the entire 
cotton manufacturing industry. The first of the subjects to 
which attention is directed is geographical distribution. 



• 



CHAPTER III 

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 

The cotton manufacturing industry has not expanded at the 
same rate since i860 in all parts of the United States. Although 
New England continues to be the largest centre, its predomi- 
nance has been lessened. The Middle Atlantic states are also 
relatively less important in this branch of manufacturing. 
The cotton mills of the West, moreover, are still a negligible 
quantity. But in the southern states there has been a great 
change. It is to the South, therefore, that especial attention 
will be directed in the following discussion of the growth of the 
industry in the separate sections and the localization within 
each. 

New England 

The number of establishments l has steadily declined in New 
England, from 570 in i860 to 308 in 1905, but the number of 
spindles has increased from 3,859,000 in i860 to 13,911,000 in 
1905. The latter figure indicates the nourishing condition of 
the industry in this section. Till 1880 the cotton manufacturing 
supremacy of New England was not threatened. But when 
mills began to spring up in the South like mushrooms, grave 
fears were entertained for the future of the industry in the 
section where it had first taken root. These fears have now 
almost entirely disappeared, since by readjustment and economy 
the New England manufacturers have given evidence of being 
able to keep their foothold. 

Within New England the mills are still scattered, but certain 
localities have grown faster than others. The industry was 
first established in southern New England, and today a larger 
number of spindles are concentrated within thirty miles of 
Providence than are to be found in a similar area anywhere 

1 This does not include knitting mills. 
27 



28 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

else in the United States. 1 Fall River is the largest centre with 
New Bedford, only twenty miles distant, not far behind. Other 
large centres in New England are Lowell, Lawrence, Manchester, 
Pawtucket, and Taunton. 

Statistics of the number of spindles per city are not given, but 
a statement of the value of the cotton goods manufactured in 
these New England cities conveys some idea of the local con- 

Value of Product 

1890 1900 1905 

Fall River $24,925,000 $29,286,000 $32,538,000 

New Bedford 8,185,000 16,748,000 22,412,000 

Lowell 19,789,000 17,046,000 19,384,000 

Manchester 10,957,000 11,723,000 14,366,000 

Pawtucket 3,955,°°° 5,635,000 10,099,000 

Lawrence 6,047,000 8,151,000 5,745,000 

Taunton 2,748,000 4,593,000 6,141,000 

New England 181,112,000 191,690,000 224,072,000 

centra tion. The low figure for Lawrence in 1905 was not 
normal and that city may be given a higher rank when the 
statistics for 19 10 are published. 

The reasons for the more rapid growth of the industry in 
these places are the advantages which accrue from centraliza- 
tion in general, and the natural advantages possessed by the 
different localities in particular. In the early growth of the 
cotton manufacturing industry in New England the factor which 
determined the location of the mills was water-power. Fall 
River, Lowell, Lawrence, Manchester, Nashua, Saco, Lewiston, 
and other cities grew up because of the water-power which was 
available at those points. Although water-power is still a very 
important factor in the continued prosperity of several of these 
cities, during the last half-century steam has become more 
important in supplying power for cotton mills. 2 

1 U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, vol. 1, p. ccxxxviii. 

2 In 1870 water furnished 99,073 horse power and steam 46,967 horse power 
for cotton mills; in 1905, the former supplied 251,884 horse power, the latter, 
702,023 horse power; and in addition 77,936 horse power were obtained from other 
sources, chiefly electricity. U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 
74, p. 62. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 29 

The system of canals which was constructed at Lowell has 
been of great value to that city and shows the foresight of those 
who planned for its future growth, since by means of these canals 
the water flows through the heart of the city and is used over and 
over again as it passes from one mill to another. In Lawrence 
and Manchester canals were also constructed, from which a 
considerable part of the power for driving the machinery in the 
mills is still derived. In 1900, according to the Census, 1 water 
furnished 49 per cent of the power for cotton mills in Lowell, 
36 per cent in Lawrence, and 50 per cent in Manchester. How- 
ever, since all the water-power privileges in these centres have 
been appropriated, few new mills have been built there, and 
the growth which has taken place has been merely the enlarge- 
ment of the older plants. 

The more rapid growth of the industry in southern New 
England cannot be ascribed to water-power. Fall River and 
New Bedford do not rely upon that to a great extent. Nor 
is the reason to be found in labor conditions, since the more 
northern cities possessed as large and as skilled a supply of labor 
as Fall River and New Bedford, when the latter cities began 
to forge ahead. Nor is the location of machine and repair 
shops the reason, since Lowell is well provided for in that respect. 

One reason, as Mr. Sidney Coolidge has pointed out, is the 
advantage which the tide-water cities gain in transportation 
rates. This saving, however, is not in the rates on raw cotton, 
since for that portion (about 40 per cent) which is shipped to 
the North by rail, a blanket rate is given for all New England 
and the railroads meet the water rates. Neither does the 
advantage arise in the freight on the cloth, since practically 
the same rate is paid from all sections of New England to New 
York or the West. The tide-water mills, however, are able 
to obtain their coal at lower rates, inasmuch as the charges 
from Boston to points north are relatively high. The cost of 
discharging coal is about the same in Fall River and New Bed- 
ford as in Boston, and in the former cities it can be sent directly 
to the mills without further transportation. Thus, as the use 

1 12th U. S. Census, vol. vii, p. cxciv. 



30 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

of steam power has become more and more common, cheaper 
coal has favored the cities of southern New England. 

Climatic conditions have been another reason for the more 
rapid increase in the number of spindles in that district. New 
Bedford, of all the cities in New England, has progressed most 
rapidly in cotton manufacturing during the last thirty years. 
The Wamsutta Mills were built in 1845, but only a few similar 
establishments followed till after 1880. At the present time, 
however, there are more than 2,100,000 spindles in the city. 
In that particular locality the temperature is less variable and 
the atmosphere more humid than in the neighboring regions. 
The climate has been particularly adapted to the manufacture of 
fine yarn and cloth. Although the natural advantage of humidity 
has been partially equalized elsewhere by artificial humidifiers, 
the greater stability of the temperature retains its potency. 
These are the chief bases for New Bedford's progress, but an 
important supplement was the wealth which had been accumu- 
lated in the whale fisheries by New Bedford residents, and 
which became available ' for building cotton mills when the 
whaling industry declined. The largest mill interests in New 
Bedford at the present time are in the hands of families which 
had acquired fortunes in whale fishing. This transfer of capital 
to cotton manufacturing stimulated the industry and its evi- 
dences of prosperity attracted investments from other sources. 

While new mills continue to be built and additions to old 
mills are made from time to time in all parts of New England, 
economies in transportation and favorable climatic conditions 
will very likely cause an even greater predominance of the south- 
ern section of that district. The relative position of New Eng- 
land as a whole, however, can best be indicated after considering 
the progress of the industry in the Middle States and the South. 

Middle Atlantic States 

Since the Civil War the number of establishments in the 
Middle Atlantic states has diminished from 340 to 204. But 
until 1900 the number of spindles increased slightly. From 
1900 to 1905 there was a slight falling off. The number of spindles 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 3 I 

reported in i860 was 1,042,000; in 1900, 1,647,000; and in 
1905, 1,548,000. Thus since i860 the industry has been practi- 
cally stationary in this section. 

Cotton factories are located in Pennsylvania, New York, 
and Maryland, and a few are found in the other states of this 
group. But Philadelphia is the only point at which there is 
concentration. In the Philadelphia district small weaving 
establishments are particularly numerous; three-fourths of 
the mills in the United States which weave but do not spin 
are located in Pennsylvania, chiefly in Philadelphia, and the 
average number of looms per mill is only 101. 1 Textile manufac- 
turing is a long established industry in that city and immigrant 
labor was probably employed there sooner than in New England. 
The immigrants, however, who entered the textile industries 
of Philadelphia, were more or less experienced in textile manu- 
facturing and therefore could be employed in the production 
of more fancy fabrics. Thus we can account, at least in part, 
for the existence of these mills and the character of their product. 
The labor supply has been the chief asset, supplemented by 
machine-shops and market facilities. The textile industries 
of Philadelphia, moreover, are urban enterprises dependent 
on urban conditions and in that respect are more or less analo- 
gous to the clothing industries of New York. 

The Middle Atlantic states are pre-eminent in the knit-goods 
industry. Establishments were reported in thirty-five states 
in 1905, but three-fifths of the total number were in the Middle 
Atlantic states, chiefly New York and Pennsylvania. Here 
are also the largest knitting factories, as a rule, although there 
are several large mills of this sort in Massachusetts, which ranks 
third among the states of the Union in knitting. 

In both New York and Pennsylvania there is a localization 
of the knitting industry, — around Cohoes in the Mohawk 
Valley, and at Philadelphia. Each of these localities was a 
pioneer in its own field, and the advantages accruing therefrom 
have been a strong attraction. At Cohoes power was first 

1 U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 74, p. 57. 



32 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

successfully applied to knitting frames, 1 and from that nucleus 
a large underwear manufacture has grown up. Philadelphia 
has been the principal seat of the hosiery industry in the United 
States ever since the Germans settled in Germantown. 2 The 
success of the knitting industry in these districts has, like a 
magnet, attracted new enterprises of the same character. 3 

Southern States 

The number of establishments 4 in the southern states in i860 
was 165; in 1900, 550, of much larger size. This statement 
brings us face to face with one of the most important industrial 
developments since the Civil War. The growth of cotton 
manufacturing in the South has caused an extensive change 
in the social and economic conditions of certain sections of those 
states. It has increased competition in one of the long estab- 
lished industries of the North, and thereby affected the whole 
United States. As a factor in enlarging the export trade of the 
country in cotton goods, it has had an effect upon the world's 
trade. 

This growth is significant of a change in southern ideals. 
It signifies a change from a social system in which work was 
held to be degrading, to one in which great interest is taken in 
industrial enterprise. It marks the decline of an industrial 
system based upon slave labor, and the rise of one in which 
the black man has almost no place. The spirit of contempt 
for northern industrial methods has been superseded by an 
intense rivalry with those very methods. From the ashes 
and ruins left by the war a " new South " has emerged. Between 
the cessation of hostilities and the beginning of this develop- 
ment, a period of fifteen years, the South was slowly recover- 
ing from the losses which it had suffered. During this period 
of convalescence a new generation was growing up, less hampered 

1 12th U. S. Census, vol. vii, p. xcviii. 

2 Part of Philadelphia. * 

a Knitting mills have also been located in numerous hard-coal mining towns of 
Pennsylvania where they could employ the women and children of the miners* 
families. 

4 Not including knitting mills. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 33 

than the fathers by old ideals and prejudices, and capable of 
directing the recent rapid growth. 

This rise of cotton manufacturing in the South has been due 
not so much to newly realized advantages or newly discovered 
resources, as to a change in the attitude of the people themselves 
and the release from the system under which all of their savings 
had to be invested in slaves. That it was not a newly discovered 
opportunity there is good evidence. In 1833 and again in 1845, 
Mr. William Gregg appealed to the people of South Carolina 
to establish cotton mills. James Montgomery, writing in 1840, 
prophesied the growth of the industry in the South, but con- 
sidered it unlikely that the South would ever surpass the North. 1 
Col. J. B. Palmer, in a report on cotton manufacturing read 
before the Immigration Convention at Charleston, South 
Carolina, in 1870, called attention to those advantages which 
have been enumerated so frequently during the last thirty years, 
even mentioning the possibility of furnishing work for the 
poorer white people. Thus the advantages were recognized 
long before they were utilized. 

The reasons for the delay in exploiting these resources are 
to be sought in the economic and social conditions which pre- 
vailed in the South before the Civil War. The South preserved 
the characteristics of a frontier agricultural community in which 
many goods were made in the household. In this respect the 
South resembled the West. All the available capital and labor 
were employed in agriculture. The demand for capital, more- 
over, was augmented by the amounts required to purchase slaves. 
And at that time there was in no section of the country a con- 
siderable surplus of capital seeking investment; local supplies were 
used for local purposes. In the next place, a supply of adaptable 
labor was not available for manufacturing in such a community. 
The negro slave was too ignorant, too clumsy, too unreliable 
to be employed advantageously in a mill equipped with intricate, 
expensive, and delicately adjusted machinery. Again, the slave 
system hindered the employment of free laborers in a dependent 

1 J. Montgomery, Cotton Manufacture, p. 194. 



34 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

position. The entrepreneur ability of the South, lastly, was 
drawn into the management of plantations, and little interest 
was taken in manufacturing. After the War, however, condi- 
tions changed, and a new attitude was a significant feature of 
the Cotton Exposition at Atlanta in 1881, a convention which 
gave impetus to the movement for the erection of cotton 
mills. 1 

The cotton manufacturing industry has grown up in the South 
within the last thirty years, or since 1880. From 1900 to 1905 
the rate of increase was more rapid than ever before, but at the 
present time a more conservative tendency is apparent. The 
growth is shown by a comparison of the number of spindles 
in the South and in the North at five year intervals since 1880. 

Spindles 2 

{Millions) 

Increase 
1880 1885 1890 1895 1900 1905 1910 30 years 

North 10.1 12.2 12.6 13.7 14.5 15.3 17.4 7.3 

South 5 1.1 1.7 2.4 4.5 8.8 11. 2 10.7 

Total 10.6 13,3 14.3 16. 1 19.0 24.1 28.6 18.0 

In 1880 there were twenty times as many spindles in the 
North, but in 19 10 the Northern spindleage was only fifty 
per cent greater, the increase during the thirty years having 
been about seven million spindles in the North and over ten 
millions in the South. The increase in the number of spindles 
in the South was approximately sixty per cent of the total 
increase in the United States in that period. Of this increase 
in the South, over one-half took place after 1900. Various 
reasons why this rate of growth is not likely to continue will 
be given later. 

Cotton mills have not been built in all parts of the South, 
as the following table shows. 

1 12th U. S. Census, Bulletin No. 215, p. 12. 

2 Compiled from Commercial and Financial Chronicle. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 35 

Southern Mills 1 

Establishments Spindles Looms 

1880 iqio 1880 1010 1880 1010 

South Carolina 14 145 82,000 4,019,000 1,700 88,427 

North Carolina 49 292 92,000 3,174,000 1,800 50,979 

Georgia 40 139 199,000 1,939,000 4,500 35,069 

Alabama 16 61 49,000 - 947,000 900 15,853 

Tennessee 16 29 36,000 293,000 800 4,391 

Virginia 8 14 44,000 329,000 " 1,300 8,694 

Mississippi 8 19 19,000 177,000 600 3,586 

Texas 2 16 3,000 112,000 100 2,331 

All Other n 16 37,000 241,000 600 2,942 

Total 164 731 561,000 11,231,000 12,300 212,272 

The most extensive construction of mills has been in three 
states, — North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Ala- 
bama has also had an important share in the progress, although 
not to the same extent as its eastern neighbors. In the number 
of establishments North Carolina has led from the start, but 
South Carolina has surpassed both North Carolina and Georgia 
in the number of spindles and looms. The average size of the 
mills, therefore, is larger in South Carolina, and has increased 
more rapidly than in the other states. In 1880 the average 
number of spindles per establishment was 1,900 in North Carolina, 
5,000 in Georgia, and 5,900 in South Carolina. But in 1905 
the average per establishment was 9,360, 12,500, and 24,600 
respectively. During the same period the number of looms 
per establishment increased from 36 to 176 in North Carolina, 
from 112 to 235 in Georgia, and from 126 to 520 in South 
Carolina. Yet in comparison with northern mills, these varia- 
tions are not important, for a typical New England mill has 
from 50,000 to 100,000 spindles. There are, to be sure, several 
large mills in the South but small concerns are far more numerous. 

The states with the larger spindleage spin the finer yarn. 
In 19 10 the average number of yarn for the entire southern 
section was 20. 2 In Texas it was number 15, whereas in Alabama 
it was 18, in North Carolina 19, in Tennessee and Georgia 20, 
and in South Carolina 24. This is another proof that South 

1 Commercial and Financial Chronicle. 2 Ibid., vol. xci, p. 623. 



36 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Carolina has reached a more advanced stage than its neighbors; 
it not only has its business concentrated in larger establishments 
but spins finer counts. 

The advantages usually specified as the reasons for the 
progress of cotton manufacturing in the South are: — (i) prox- 
imity to the source of supply of raw cotton, whereby the spinner 
is enabled (a) to save in freight rates on raw material, and (b) 
to take advantage of favorable market conditions, (2) water- 
power, (3) lower taxation, and (4) cheap labor. To what extent 
has each of these alleged advantages affected the development ? 
How far are they still operative ? And in what degree are they 
offset by disadvantages ? 

(io) A saving in freight on raw materials is doubtless realized 
by some mills, but this economy is not so great as would at first 
sight appear. Where the mills have become so numerous that 
the local supply is insufficient to satisfy their demands, the 
price paid to the local merchants for cotton grown in the imme- 
diate neighborhood is equal to the cost of the cotton in other 
states plus the freight charges. In North Carolina about 
one-fourth of the cotton used in the mills is brought from other 
states, particularly Mississippi, and the price of all the cotton 
is determined by the Mississippi price plus the freight charge 
from Mississippi to Charlotte or to whatever city or town it 
may be delivered. And the freight rate from Mississippi to 
Charlotte, for example, is nearly as high as the rate from southern 
shipping points to New England. 

In parts of South Carolina the same conditions obtain, but 
there is more saving on freight for the mills in that state than 
in North Carolina. The mills in Georgia and Alabama, as well 
as certain sections of South Carolina, can frequently procure 
their supply of cotton from the immediate vicinity at prices 
no higher than those at which it is sold to be shipped to the 
North or to Europe, thus eliminating freight charges. Long 
staple cotton, from which the higher counts of yarn are spun, 
is not grown near the manufacturing region. Therefore the 
southern mills purchasing such cotton have to pay freight charges 
about equal to those incurred by New England mills. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 37 

The mills which obtain their cotton locally gain as much 
from saving in tare as in saving on freight rates. In such cases 
the cotton is not compressed but delivered to the mills in the 
large, loosely packed ginnery bales. Not only is there no 
compress charge, but the manufacturer does not have to buy 
the several pounds of old bagging which are almost always 
placed in the covering at the compress, supposedly to cover 
holes, but more frequently to find a resting place between them. 

One mill, in Rome, Georgia, even eliminates baling by receiving 
the cotton directly from the field and ginning it at the mill. 
This method, however, is not practicable for most mills, since 
they must select the grade of cotton for which their machinery 
is adjusted, and not take the general mixture which would be 
offered to them by the farmers. Several grades are found in 
the cotton from a single farm, and it is one of the functions of 
the merchant to classify this and sort it into lots of uniform 
grade. Some of the mills in the heart of the eastern cotton 
growing area warehouse the farmer's cotton after it has been 
ginned, use it when needed, and pay for it not at a price fixed 
when delivered, but at the current price whenever the farmer 
wishes to call for his money. That portion which is too high 
in quality as well as that of too inferior a grade must be disposed 
of to a cotton merchant. Obviously the risk involved is not 
inconsiderable and hardly consistent with economical manage- 
ment. 

Economy in freight on raw cotton, therefore, is realized 
only by the mills in the more southern part of the cotton manu- 
facturing district, and probably a majority of the southern 
spinners pay nearly as much as the New England spinners for 
their raw material. Furthermore, the cloth is generally shipped 
to the North. There are practically no bleaching, dyeing, or 
printing works in the South, as the water is not suitable. Hence 
if the cloth is to be finished it must go to the North, usually 
New England. And if it is to be exported in the gray it is 
generally shipped through New York, sometimes through Seattle. 
Since the market is in the northern states, it matters little, so 
far as freight charges are involved, whether the cotton is shipped 



38 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

before or after manufacturing. Until the South is able to obtain 
pure water for finishing and becomes commercially independent 
of New York by establishing its own export market, the saving 
of freight on raw cotton will be counterbalanced by the freight 
on the cloth. When that goal is reached, if at all, the growth 
of the industry may have forced all the manufacturers to obtain 
at least part of their cotton from distant states and thus nullify 
what slight advantage now accrues from proximity to the cotton 
fields. Although by appealing to the imagination this advantage 
has given some stimulus, it seems very doubtful if there has 
been sufficient economy to bring about the building of many 
mills, or if in the future it will have much effect on the growth 
of cotton manufacturing in the South. 

(ib) The proximity of the southern manufacturer to the source 
of supply of raw cotton does not enable him to gain any advan- 
tage in purchasing. The New York price rules and that quota- 
tion depends upon the state of the world's cotton market. There 
is not sufficient divergence in any locality to place local manu- 
facturers in a superior position. In the second place, the majority 
of the southern manufacturing companies have not as much 
ready money as the New England mills. It is available cash 
rather than geographical location, which determines who will 
be able to buy cotton when the price falls. 

(2) The saving in cost of power is a more difficult point to 
decide upon. A number of mills are located on streams where 
they can use water-power, and their charges for this element 
in the cost of manufacturing are small. But the spot where 
water-power can be secured may be remote from the railway 
and may involve other sacrifices. Moreover, less than one-fourth 
of the power for southern cotton mills is furnished by water. 1 
For those using steam the cost of coal varies, being cheap in 
Tennessee where there are local mines and dearer in other states 
according to the distance it must be transported. While cheap 

1 In 1905, water furnished 22%, electricity 7.2%, and steam 67.4% of the 
power for southern cotton mills; and water 28%, electricity 4%, and steam 66.6% 
for New England mills. — U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 74, 
p. 62. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 39 

power has encouraged the inception of some of these cotton 
manufacturing enterprises, it has not been general enough to 
be considered the paramount factor in the whole movement. 

(3) Southern municipalities have frequently exempted the 
mills from taxation for a period of years as an inducement to 
location within their borders, and the rates are generally lower 
than in the North. But the southern mill owners, in contrast 
with those of New England, have had to provide sanitary im- 
provements, and to subsidize schools, churches, and other public 
institutions in their villages. 

To offset whatever gains may have accrued to the southern 
manufacturers from the minor advantages already mentioned, 
the dispersion of the mills must be reckoned with. The fac- 
tories are scattered throughout the Piedmont district, from 
Greensboro in the north to Atlanta in the south, and also here 
and there in the lowlands. Charlotte, North Carolina, is the 
commercial centre for a large part of this district, but there is 
no considerable localization. The cotton industry, however, 
like many others, is naturally gregarious, and thrives best where 
the labor market is fairly steady and where repair shops are 
close at hand. This source of economy is realized in New 
England but not in the South. Yet this inconvenience will 
probably disappear along with other advantages and disadvan- 
tages, as the industry emerges from the period of transition. 

(4) Although these advantages have aided mill building in the 
South, the corner-stone of the structure has been the supply 
of cheap and tractable labor. When the industrial revival began, 
the enthusiasm spread in every direction. The newspapers 
gave the movement hearty support. Leading men sanctioned 
and encouraged it. Farmers who had made money in cotton 
growing invested their savings in mill shares. And, not least, 
there was available a supply of adaptable laborers, who also 
took an interest in what was going on. The old lethargy was 
shaken off and all joined in the common cause. 

The operatives are of the class called " poor whites." They 
have come from the hills and farms of the Piedmont district, 
and are descendants of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish who in 



40 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

earlier generations had pushed down into this section. The 
ante-bellum plantation system held them back in this infertile 
region, since they could not keep up in the race with the large 
plantation owners, and labor as wage-earners was impossible 
for them under that social and industrial system. Thus forced 
back into the hills, they remained a crude and undeveloped 
people, not degraded but unprogressive. 1 

The supply of labor for the southern cotton mills has been 
obtained from two classes, the mountaineers and the tenant 
farmers. The former, known as " Tackies " in North Carolina 
and as " Crackers " in Georgia, had eked out a meagre liveli- 
hood from their small patches of barren soil and the fruits of 
their rifles. Their food was simple and not abundant, their 
clothing scanty, and their home a small cabin with dirt floor 
and devoid of all except the crudest furniture. But in spite 
of their " hand-to-mouth " existence in squalid conditions, 
they retained a proud and independent spirit, with no trace of 
servility. Although lacking ingenuity, foresight, and ambition, 
they were, however, adaptable to factory life. 

The tenant farmers, the class which has provided the larger pro- 
portion of the mill workers, 2 had lived more comfortably though 
not accustomed to many of the luxuries of life. The returns 
to be obtained from growing a few bales of cotton were not large, 
and occasional crop failures combined with a general improvi- 
dence to keep them more or less deeply in debt. The depres- 
sion which began in 1893 an d the prevailing low prices of 
cotton probably induced or compelled some to enter the mills 
and swell the exodus from the farm. But this drain upon the 
agricultural class has, perhaps, had some effect in raising the 
remuneration to be secured from tilling the soil. The rapid 
building of cotton mills throughout the world has, at the same 
time, increased the demand for cotton, and the price is now 
from two to three times as high as it was fifteen years ago. 
The result is that the pendulum has begun its backward swing 
and the people are to some extent returning to the farms. 

1 H. Thompson, From Cotton Field to Cotton Mill, p. 113. 

2 A. Kohn, The Cotton Mills of South Carolina, p. 26. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 41 

The change from agriculture to manufacturing has, on the 
whole, been beneficial to the workers, although their standard of 
living changes slowly. They receive larger money incomes 
than before, but many do not exercise a wise choice in the dis- 
posal of their earnings. They spend a great deal on food, but 
the cooking is bad. 1 They select food-stuffs like those on which 
they were formerly accustomed to live, only in larger quantities, 
and have learned little of the culinary art. This tends to impair 
their health. They pay scant attention to literature and enter- 
tainment, but dress extravagantly. 2 These people are not 
thrifty. In all the mill towns the story is the same. A few 
save money to buy a house and occasionally there are small 
bank accounts, but the vast majority are improvident. They 
relinquished a certain amount of their former freedom when 
they submitted to factory discipline, but they have maintained 
an independent spirit which not infrequently leads them to 
follow the impulse of the moment and absent themselves from 
the mill whenever they have earned enough to provide for the 
time being. Mr. Kohn states: 3 " Every cotton mill in South 
Carolina recognizes that to have a full complement of labor in the 
mill each morning, it is practically necessary to carry a sur- 
plusage of twenty to twenty-five per cent of spare ' help.' ' 
Prolonged contact with the industrial world, however, may 
be expected to eradicate this restlessness, and acquaintance 
with higher standards to instil more of the spirit of frugality: 

The dwellings have not always been furnished with proper 
sanitary conveniences but they have been better than the pre- 
vious habitations in the mountains or on the farms. The mill 
owners have generally provided cottages for their employees, 
and have encouraged tidiness inside and out. A family is 
sometimes discharged if it persists in living in filth. Small 
gardens of flowers frequently adorn the yards in front of the 
cottages, the employers as well as the employees enjoying the 

1 H. Thompson, From Cotton Field to Cotton Mill, p. 145; also Mass. Bureau 
of Statistics of Labor, Report, 1905. 

2 H. Thompson, op. tit., p. 143. 

3 A. Kohn, The Cotton Mills of South Carolina, p. 61. 



42 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

cheerful appearance. The employers in many cases have also 
exercised a careful supervision over the morals of the workers, 1 
to prevent the creeping in of vices such as might be expected 
to appear among people not accustomed to town life. 

Within the factories the conditions of labor have not been 
altogether praiseworthy. The hours of labor have been long. 
Until 1906 sixty-six hours per week was the lowest legal minimum 
in any southern state, and during the preceding years seventy- 
five hours per week was not uncommon. The different states 
have now imposed limitations which are gradually approaching 
those in New England. It is curious how a man's arguments 
change when his pocket-book is affected. Before the Civil 
War, the southerners defended slavery on the ground that 
that climate would not permit a white man to engage in manual 
labor. Now they justify the long hours of employment in the 
cotton mills with a statement that climatic conditions are more 
favorable to prolonged exertion than in the North. 

The southern mills until recently were often operated at 
night, sometimes, it is said, keeping the machinery in motion 
twenty-three hours out of every twenty-four. This was an 
advantage in that it used the machines to the utmost before 
they were supplanted by an improved type. It was also an 
advantage in the interest account. But there were several 
drawbacks to night work, aside from the cost of lighting the 
mill. Less was accomplished; the product was less satisfactory; 
and the wages were higher for night work. It was also difficult 
to keep the children awake, — a disadvantage, which, unfor- 
tunately, was not so serious from a money-making point of 
view as from that of society. "The practice of night work, 
though not yet extinct, has diminished and the employment 
of young children at night has been restricted. 

The greatest evil attendant upon the industrial progress of 
the South has been the employment of children in the mills. 
4,097 children were reported by the Census of 1880, and 27,571 
in 1905. In addition to those included in these statistics, there 
were an indefinite number whose names did not appear on the 

1 H. Thompson, From Cotton Field to Cotton Mill, pp. 165, 180. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 43 

pay-rolls, but who were permitted to come in and " help " 
their parents or older brothers and sisters. The manager calmed 
his conscience by declaring that he did not hire them. This 
indirect employment of young children has not been forbidden 
by law as in the North. 1 

The proportion of cotton mill employees who are under the 
age of sixteen is much higher in the South than in the northern 
states. The absolute number has been so augmented that 
there has been but a slight relative decline, in contrast to the 
tendency shown in the North. 

Cotton Mills 
{Percentage of employees under age of 16) 2 

1 90s 

New England 6.0 

Middle Atlantic States 8.7 
South 22.9 

Total United States ... 12.9 

The relative decline from 1900 to 1905 will probably continue 
since more and more severe age restrictions are being imposed 
by the state governments, and especially because the conviction 
is gaining ground amongst employers themselves that the 
employment of young children is not profitable. This senti- 
ment was frequently expressed to me by the manufacturers 
with whom I talked, and Mr. Cherington, who corresponded 
with numerous southern employers on this subject, 3 obtained 
similar evidence. Perhaps the laws which have been enacted 
are due in part to this change of attitude on the part of the 
mill owners. 

The employers have not been altogether at fault in employing 
children. The parents themselves have frequently insisted 
that employment should be given to the whole family, and a 

1 Mr. Young found one instance exactly analogous in Rhode Island, — T. M. 
Young, American Cotton Industry, p. 24. 

2 U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 74, p. 39. 

3 Mr. P. T. Cherington kindly permitted me to read an unpublished manu- 
script in which these statements were set forth. 



1900 


1890 


1880 


6.7 


6.9 


14.1 


12.4 


12.6 


21.4 


25.0 


24.2 


25.1 


13-4 


10.7 


16.4 



44 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

manager in need of operatives would hesitate to reject the 
whole family merely because some of the children were young. 
But the whole family has not always worked, to judge by the 
statements of Mr. Thompson. 1 He pictures a large number 
of idle fathers, " tin-bucket toters " he calls them, who are 
supported by their children. These worthy personages lounge 
around the village loafing places and discourse upon the capa- 
bilities of their children, much as farmers gather at a country 
store to argue upon the relative merits of their cattle. This 
abuse does not prevail to the same extent today as in former 
years. That it should have arisen was not unnatural. The 
older men could not easily adapt themselves to tending machines 
and fell into the habit of depending on the women and children 
for support. They were poor and uneducated when they came 
to the mills, and they did not realize that it was more unhealthy 
for the women and children to work in a factory than to labor 
in the field. 

These social conditions have been discussed not only because 
of their bearing upon the success of the cotton manufacturing 
industry in this section, but also on account of the wide attention 
that they have attracted. 2 While the evils have been numerous, 
it is an injustice to criticise too harshly. It must be remembered 
that long hours and child labor were once common in New Eng- 
land, and the latter evil has not yet been eradicated from the 
mills and factories in various northern states. The southern 
mill operatives are, as a rule, better off than before they entered 
the mills. And their dwellings and modes of living do not 
compare unfavorably with those in the tenement districts of 
New England mill towns. The mills are generally well lighted, 
well ventilated, and some are artificially cooled in summer. 

1 H. Thompson, From Cotton Field to Cotton Mill, p. 115; also E. G. Murphy, 
The Present South, p. 106; and Report of the Industrial Commission, vol. vii, pp. 
545, 566. 

2 The magazine articles on this subject have been numerous. The following 
may be mentioned as presenting the subject from different points of view: — 
A. J. McKelway, Annals of American Academy, vol. xxvii, and Outlook, vol. lxxxv; 
M. A. Bacon, Atlantic Monthly, vol. xcix; A. W. Page, World's Work, vol. xiv; 
H. Robbins, Gunton's Magazine, vol. xxiii; D. A. Willey, Chatauquan, vol. xxviii. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 45 

The conditions in the South are not praiseworthy; yet in the 
North they are often nearly as bad. The pictures of southern 
child operatives in the popular magazines give an unfair im- 
pression. Let a photograph be taken of a dozen children 
emerging from a northern print-cloth mill, glass works, or silk 
factory, and how much more prepossessing an appearance would 
they present ? 

The school system has been inadequate and the regulations 
in regard to attendance lax, yet the children have received more 
education than if they had remained in the mountains or on 
the farms. While recognizing the abuses that still exist and 
appreciating the opportunities for betterment, my own impres- 
sion is that the conditions in many southern mills, not all, are 
not inferior to those in northern mill centres. The outlook for the 
future is brightened by a wide-spread spirit of progress. The 
employers are by no means heartless. They are generally 
quite the reverse and take an active interest in uplifting their 
employees. The operatives themselves are slowly adopting 
higher standards, and improving their condition. Whether 
they are to use the cotton mill as a stepping-stone, or whether, 
because of ignorance and lack of thrift, they are to become a 
permanent operative class, remains to be seen. 1 

These people, with limited wants and accustomed to inex- 
pensive living, were employed at wages lower than were paid 
in New England. No statistics are available which can safely 
be used for an exact comparison of labor cost, but it has been 
sufficiently below that of the northern mills to stimulate a rapid 
increase in the number of spindles in the South. 

The following table illustrates the difference in earnings 
in the two sections. It gives the computed full time earnings 

1 The conditions in the United States are gradually approaching the European 
standard, so that it is becoming more difficult for the mill operatives and other 
workmen of that class to raise themselves to a higher level. Yet the absence of social 
restrictions and firmly fixed customs as well as the promise of further industrial 
expansion in this country seem to afford sufficient opportunity for these people 
to emerge from their position as factory employees. To the author, the progress 
of the operatives appears to depend chiefly on their own efforts. The falling off 
in the proportion of women employed (see p. 114) may be an indication that they 
are not to become a permanent factory class. 



46 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

for an average week, as shown by the investigations of the 
Department of Commerce and Labor in 1907-08. 

(Computed) Full Time Weekly Earnings 

{Of males and females over 16 years of age. 1907-08.) l 

44 New England Mills 151 Southern Mills 

Males Females Males Females 

Doffers $6.77 $6.07 $5.08 $4.70 

Ring Spinners 6.77 7.36 5.96 5.71 

Speeder Tenders .... 9.64 8.88 8.21 7.09 

Spoolers 6.77 6.08 5.71 

Weavers 9.93 8.99 8.53 7.21 

Although these figures are inadequate, since they do not cover 
all departments nor take into consideration the quality of the 
product or the output per operative, they roughly indicate the 
comparative cost in the two sections. The piece-rates, as well 
as earnings, have been lower in the South. 

The lower wages, nevertheless, have been partially counter- 
balanced by the lack of skill and the fickleness of the workers. 
They had to be taught how to manage the machines, and while 
they have learned readily they are even now inferior artisans 
to those New England operatives who have worked in cotton 
mills for a longer time. The efficiency of the southern operatives 
has also been impaired by their inconstant attendance. 

Although the wages and probably the labor cost have been 
lower in the South, at present they have risen almost to the level 
of New England. The growth of the industry has taken away 
the advantage which was its chief asset. The stratum of cheap 
labor has been exhausted and in the boom of 1905-07 employers 
bid against each other so that wages were raised nearly one- 
fourth. The competition for laborers was so keen that the mills 
frequently offered free transportation as an extra inducement 
to attract operatives from other localities. The Manufacturers 7 
Record, sl standard authority for the southern industrial world, 
printed, in nearly every issue during the period of 1905-07, state- 
ments that "with very few exceptions all the cotton mills in 

1 U. S. Commissioner of Labor, Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage- 
Earners in the United States, vol. i, p. 328. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 47 

the South were short of their full complement of operatives," 
and that " for the time being the South had built more mills 
than it had labor to operate." 1 Corroborative evidence is 
given by the employers themselves. 

The attempts of southern mill owners to attract foreign 
immigrants are likewise indicative of the exhaustion of the 
local supply of labor. In South Carolina a special committee 
was appointed by the state government 2 to promote immigra- 
tion. The instigators and supporters were the manufacturers. 
They were successful in inducing a few hundred foreigners to 
enter the state, but not in keeping them there. 3 The immigrants 
found that they could earn more elsewhere. The undertakings, 
therefore, have borne little fruit, and under present conditions 
the prospects are not encouraging. The restrictions imposed 
in the mill villages are irksome to the European who is accus- 
tomed to his beer, and there is likelihood of friction with the 
American laborers. And the higher wages of the North and 
association with their kinsmen are more attractive' to the im- 
migrants than any temptations which have yet been offered in 
the South. 

But why not employ the negro in the cotton mill ? Before 
the Civil War the use of slaves in the factories was occasionally 
suggested, and since 1880 the negro has frequently been men- 
tioned as a labor asset of the southern mills. Although no com- 
petent business man has yet ventured to make a real test and the 
failures of previous attempts cannot be ascribed entirely to the 
inefficiency of the laborers, there are good grounds for doubting 
the possibilities of employing negroes in the southern cotton 
mills. 

There is little likelihood that the negro will become the mill 
operative of the future. In the first place, the average negro 
is not temperamentally adapted to monotonous, mechanical 
work. His mental development does not seem to fit him for 

1 See, for example, Manufacturers' Record, Aug. 10, 1905, p. 87, and Oct. 19, 
1905, p. 340. 

2 H. Thompson, From Cotton Field to Cotton Mill, p. 61; Mass. Bureau of Statis- 
tics of Labor, Report, 1905, p. 45. 

3 A. Kohn, Cotton Mills of South Carolina, p. 197. 



48 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY^ 

understanding the complex machines. Neither does it fit him 
for applying himself with assiduity for the required length of 
time. He can apply himself to one thing only, and to that 
not too constantly. Oftentimes he will work no longer than is 
necessary to provide his meagre livelihood. The result is that 
the negro cannot be' depended upon, whereas the very essence 
of successful factory operation is that each workman should 
attend constantly and carefully to his own work. This is just 
what the negro would be least likely to do. Hence he would 
require more supervising than his labor would be worth. 

The mill, moreover, would have to be operated entirely by 
negroes with white men as overseers. While white men and 
black men would work together in harmony, provided the room 
were well ventilated, public opinion in the South, for the present 
at least and for a long time to come, would not tolerate the 
employment of negroes within the same room in which white 
women were at work. Negroes now perform some of the rough 
outside work, and in numerous mills are tending the pickers. 
But there they are by themselves. . They can also be put to 
work in the halls and stairways as sweepers and scrubbers, 
but were they to be placed at one of the machines in the card 
room or spinning room, the white laborers would leave imme- 
diately. It is either a white person's job or a negro's job; it 
cannot be the work of both. The negro women have not the 
deftness of white women and could not, therefore, economically 
take their place. The same is true of the children. Hence 
the dilemma, — all black is not satisfactory to the manager, 
and part black and part white is practically impossible. Were 
the prospects for success bright, the solution of the race problem 
would, perhaps, be nearer at hand; but unfortunately there 
is- little evidence to encourage such optimism. Instead there is 
the possibility of a complication of southern racial conditions 
by immigration of foreigners. 

We may conclude, therefore, that so far as labor is concerned, 
the advantage which the southern manufacturers have enjoyed 
has been nearly neutralized by the expansion of the industry. 
As the industry has become greater its competition has tended 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 49 

to be less severely felt. Yet this does not mean that progress 
is not to continue. On the basis of the present supply of labor 
existing mills are provided for, and the natural increase in 
population will furnish workmen for additional spindles. But 
wages will henceforth be more nearly equal to those in the 
North and the costs of production in the two sections less 
divergent. 

The southern mills built during the last fifteen years have 
ordinarily been equipped with machinery of the latest type. 
This enhanced the advantage arising from low wages. The 
southerners at first purchased second-hand machines which had 
been discarded in the North, but they learned that it was more 
economical, when capital could be obtained, to buy the newest 
machines. Consequently ring spindles with the latest improve- 
ments were purchased, a large number of Northrop looms 
installed, and other most modern improvements adopted. 

The management of southern mills has generally been in- 
ferior to that of the northern factories. It has been less syste- 
matic and less economical. The superintendence has been 
less careful and the cost keeping less accurate. The managers 
have been for the most part trained in southern mills, and the 
overseers are commonly southern born and have gained their 
experience in the mills of that section. In the early years a 
few of the overseers and managers were northern men who 
had been sent to erect machinery in the South, but not many 
such are to be found at the present time. Besides their laxity 
in management the southern manufacturers have not taken 
care to keep up the quality of their product with the foresight 
that is characteristic in New England. Southern goods bring 
a slightly lower price than northern cloths, not only because 
of inferior workmanship, but also because they are less trusts 
worthy. Since the southern manufacturer is more likely to 
use poorer cotton or economize in some other way rather than 
incur a temporary loss, the reputation of his cloth suffers. There 
are numerous exceptions, however, and the general tendency 
is toward better management and maintenance of quality. 

The capital for building the earlier mills was obtained in 



50 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

the South itself. They were small establishments and repre- 
sented the savings of local business men and farmers. 1 Fre- 
quently the mill building was short-sighted, local pride and the 
infectious spirit of the moment blinding the promoters to the 
inadvisability of investment in the manner pursued. Such 
mills have frequently failed and passed through numerous 
reorganizations. The speculative mania introduced an element 
of unsteadiness, but this, as in other industries, was an incident 
of early growth and on the whole contributed to the estab- 
lishment of the new business in the South. 

Once the profitableness of cotton manufacturing in this 
section had been proven, capital flowed in from the North, in 
part from bona-fide investors and in part from other sources. 
Of the latter, the machinery manufacturers were heavy con- 
tributors. They took shares in the company's stock in payment 
for machinery, just as the English machinery firms have done 
during the recent period of rapid erection of mills in Lancashire, 
The machinery companies, in both countries, unloaded the 
stock at their earliest opportunity. 

Stock in southern mill companies has also been taken by 
business firms which have held the stock but with the object 
not so much of securing interest on the investment as of obtain- 
ing remunerative privileges. These firms were New York 
commission houses which purchased stock on condition that they 
be granted the agency for the product. These financiers, 
however, more commonly helped to supply ready money by 
making advances on the goods with a lien on the cotton as 
security, instead of accepting shares of stock. The selling 
agents have not always treated the mills fairly, and the higher 
commissions which they have received have been a burden 
to the southern manufacturers. 

Several mills have been built on southern soil by New England 
companies, with a view to profitable investment and because 
of apprehension that the industry was to shift away from the 
North. While some of these ventures have paid, others have 
been unsuccessful financially because of the choice of an un- 

1 H. Thompson, From Cotton Field to Cotton Mill, p. 64. 



I 

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 5 1 

favorable location and have handicapped the parent company. 
No new southern branches have been established for several 
years, and one hears no suggestion that any are contemplated. 
On the contrary, one of the Lowell manufacturing companies 
which has a southern mill that is supposed to have yielded good 
returns chose to enlarge its northern plant in 1909, thus indi- 
cating that the prospects were better in Lowell than in the 
southern states. 

The product of the southern mills has been mainly coarse 
yarn and cloths, as is shown by the greater consumption of 
cotton per spindle. In 1907 the southern mills averaged 127 
pounds, and in 1909, 122.8 pounds of cotton per spindle. The 
northern mills averaged 76 pounds per spindle in both of those 
years. 1 After making due allowance for inaccuracies in the 
estimates and other modifying circumstances, it is evident 
that the average product is considerably heavier in the South. 
These goods have been in good demand for export, and several 
mills manufacture entirely for the foreign market. The less 
skilled labor of the South is better adapted to manufacturing 
this class of goods. 

A division of the field has been predicted on the basis of the 
conditions which have prevailed up to the present time, the 
North to manufacture fine goods and the South coarse goods. 
Although a plausible view, judging from the past, it is by no 
means certain that this will be the ultimate outcome. On the 
one hand the production of coarse goods has shown no sign of 
diminishing in the North, and on the other hand several fine 
goods mills have been erected in the South. Furthermore there 
may grow up in the South a permanent class of operatives 
who will develop especial skill in the manipulation of cotton 
while the inundation of foreign immigrants continues in New 
England. The one prediction is as good as the other. 

To summarize the present situation : — the advantages 
accruing to the Southern manufacturers from proximity to 
the cotton fields, good water-power, light taxes, long hours, 
and new machinery are counterbalanced in the North by more 

1 Computed from statistics given in U. S. Statistical Abstract, 1910, p. 710. 



52 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

abundant capital and credit facilities, greater public conven- 
iences, more experienced managers and better disciplined work- 
men, concentration instead of dispersion, superior climate, 
and nearness to markets and finishing works. The chief asset 
of the southern manufacturers has been the supply of cheap 
labor, but this source is nearly exhausted. Hence a rise in 
wages has taken place, and it is to be expected that by the com- 
petition of employers they will be forced up to the New England 
level. Few more native whites are to be secured; the negroes 
are unavailable; and immigrants cannot be attracted by low 
earnings. 

With higher wages and longer experience will come an improve- 
ment in social conditions. We may expect shorter hours, less 
night work, and a mitigation of the evil of child labor. The 
employees will gradually become accustomed to town life and 
learn to use their incomes more wisely. Unfortunately thrifti- 
ness does not appear to make much headway among these 
people. The industry and the conditions surrounding it are 
still in a stage of transition. England had a worse experience 
early in the nineteenth century, and effective legislative regula- 
tions did not at once follow upon the establishment of the 
industry in New England. They all approach the same level, 
and the indications are that the South will take less time than 
its predecessors. 

The competition from southern manufacturers was severely 
felt in New England, especially during the depression from 
1893-97. With the return of business prosperity, however, 
there was a good market for the products of all the mills. And 
by the time of the next slump, conditions had readjusted them- 
selves so that the depression was as serious in the South as in 
the North. Not only had the relative disadvantages of the 
North been counteracted by the changes which had taken place 
in the South, but the New England manufacturers had been 
forced by the competition to strengthen their own position. 
This they accomplished by economizing in selling costs, and 
especially by improving their organization. They introduced 
better systems of cost keeping and of factory management, 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 53 

and they cut down labor cost by new machines and higher 
speeds. The struggle was beneficial to the older mills, as 
well as to the new mills which began to undertake the manu- 
facture of fine goods. That the fear of southern conquest 
has now almost entirely disappeared is attested by numerous 
fresh undertakings in New England. Of undoubted benefit 
to the southern people by furnishing a more productive em- 
ployment for a large number of persons and by instilling a 
greater spirit of enterprise, the development of cotton manu- 
facturing in the South has also indirectly benefited the New 
England manufacturers, and therefore has been a gain to the 
whole country. 



CHAPTER IV 

TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 

Yarn and Cloth Manufacturing l 

In the last half of the eighteenth century the technique of 
cotton spinning and weaving was revolutionized by the great 
English inventors. But their inventions, remarkable as they 
were, were only the beginnings of improvements which have 
continued to the present time. What have the American 
manufacturers contributed to this development ? How far 
have their contributions been the result of conditions peculiar 
to this country ? On the answer to these questions depend 
to some extent our conclusions as to the stability of the basis 
on which our cotton manufacturing industry stands. In the 
United States a high wage-level has always encouraged economy 
in labor. If a manufacturing industry was to succeed in this 
country, the introduction of labor-saving machinery was essential. 
Moreover, during the last fifty years the most available supply 
of labor has been that furnished by the foreign immigrants. 
Those machines which required little skill, and the management 
of which could be easily learned, made possible the utilization 
of labor of that class. Let us see, then, how the American 
cotton manufacturers have met the industrial conditions with 
which they were confronted. 

For convenience and greater clearness I will discuss the 
subject under five heads, — (i) preparatory processes; opening, 
carding, combing, drawing; (2) spinning; (3) spooling, warping, 
sizing; (4) weaving; (5) converting and finishing. But by way 
of preface it may be well to give an outline of these various 
processes in the manufacture of cotton goods. 

The first process is opening and picking. After the cotton 
from a number of bales has been mixed and loosened up in the 

1 This chapter is reproduced, with some modifications, from my article in 
the Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. xxiv, pp. 109-159. 

54 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 55 

bale-breaker, it passes to the opener where it is further loosened 
up. Then it goes to the pickers, where the fibres are separated 
and the dirt shaken out. From the finisher picker the cotton 
issues in the form of a lap ready for the card. The card removes 
whatever dirt remains, at the same time straightening out the 
fibres. As the rope of cotton, called " sliver," about the size 
of a man's thumb, comes from the card, it is mechanically 
coiled in a can. If the cotton is to be used for spinning fine 
yarn or hosiery yarn, it is next combed. But for ordinary 
purposes the cans of sliver are taken directly to the drawing- 
frame, where several ends, usually six, are drawn into one by 
means of two sets of rollers revolving at different rates of speed. 
All the processes up to this point are designed partly to clean 
the cotton, but more especially to secure greater evenness in 
length and weight. While they are adjusted somewhat dif- 
ferently, according to the grade of work desired, the object is 
the same throughout, a continual re-doubling and drawing. 

The fly-frames next receive the cotton, and here the twisting 
of the sliver begins. There are always three sets, and in some 
mills four sets, of these fly-frames, — the slubber, intermediate, 
jack, and roving frames. These machines, though called by 
various names in different mills or in different sections, are the 
same in principle. Each succeeding frame draws out the cotton 
into a finer thread and puts in slightly more twist. From the 
last of the fly-frames the cotton passes on to the spinning machine, 
either a mule or a ring-frame. 

The weft yarn is ready for the loom as soon as spun. But 
the warp yarn, that which is to form the threads lengthwise 
of the cloth, must be spooled, warped, and sized. On the spooler 
the yarn from several bobbins is wound on spools, for con- 
venience in warping. A number of these spools are placed on 
a large frame called a creel, whence the yarn is re-wound on 
the beam of the warper. This beam, a small roller, varies in 
length with the number of ends which are to be wound upon 
it. The number of ends, in turn, varies according to the width 
of cloth to be made. The beam when filled, is carried to the 
slasher, where the yarn is sized, i. e., run through a solution of 



56 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

starch, China clay, tallow, flour, and other ingredients, varying 
according to the particular formula of each mill. After this 
treatment the ends of the sized warp yarn are drawn into the 
harnesses of the loom, on which the cloth is woven. For con- 
verting and finishing the cloth there are numerous methods, 
and consequently a variety of machines, including those for 
dyeing, bleaching, and printing, also loop-cutters, shearers, 
brushes, calendars, as well as machines used in inspecting, 
folding, and packing. 

Such are the main processes through which the cotton passes 
from the time it leaves the bale till it is ready to be shipped to 
the jobber or retailer. In all of these processes improvement 
has been made during the last fifty years, the period to which 
our attention is particularly directed. 

I. Preparatory Processes 
Opening, Carding, Combing, Drawing 

The machines of this group loosen the matted cotton of the 
bale, remove the impurities and shorter fibres, straighten and 
lay parallel the fibres retained, and draw them out into a finer 
and finer thread of even weight. The object is uniformity in 
length of staple and in weight of lap and sliver. 

In the machinery used for the initial processes the chief 
changes have been in the direction of perfecting machines already 
employed in i860. The bale-breaker has come into more general 
use, so that, in the United States at least, hand labor is no 
longer used for loosening up the cotton after the bale has been 
opened. The heavy laps of cotton are thrown from the bale 
directly into the bale-breaker. The method of carrying the 
cotton from this machine to the next still varies widely in 
different mills. In a few mills the cotton is delivered auto- 
matically into bins, and thence fed by hand into the opener 1 
or the automatic feeder. But the use of machines for feed- 
ing the cotton directly to the automatic feeder is becoming 
more general. For this purpose blowers are used to transport 

1 In England the opener is called a hopper-feeder. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 57 

the cotton from the room in which the bales are opened to 
the room in which the openers are located. The blower con- 
sists of a large pipe through which the cotton is forced by 
fans. At the present time, as a result of improvements, 
cotton in some plants is blown a thousand feet by this means. 
The economies of this method of transportation are two. In 
the first place, the bale-breaker can be put in a separate building, 
whereby the danger of fire is lessened, no cotton being stored 
in the mill proper. In the second place, cotton from several 
bale-breakers can be fed into the same pipe and a better mixture 
obtained. 

For delivering the cotton directly to the automatic feeder or 
the opener several machines have been devised. Of these the 
Morton Automatic Distributor is probably the most economical. 
This machine, a recent American invention, consists of a steel 
trough extending over the feeders. Into this trough the cotton 
is delivered from the blower. The bottom of the trough is a 
travelling apron, and on the side over the hoppers of the feeders 
are gates. When a hopper is nearly empty, the gate in the 
trough above opens automatically, permitting the cotton to 
run out till the hopper is refilled. Then the gate closes auto- 
matically and the cotton in the distributor passes on till it comes 
to the next open gate. This machine saves floor space, since 
no bins are required and no cotton is piled on the floor behind 
the openers. It also saves labor, since after the cotton is fed 
into the bale-breaker it does not have to be handled again till 
it has come from the breaker-picker. 

The cotton is fed automatically from the opener to the first 
or breaker-picker. If the openers and pickers are in the same 
room, a combination machine is commonly used. Otherwise 
the cotton is carried from the opener to the picker by a blower 
or a trunk. The methods depend upon the arrangement of the 
plant and the judgment of the superintendent, but the prin- 
ciples are the same. After the cotton comes from the breaker- 
picker, it is passed as a rule through an intermediate and a 
finisher-picker, though in some mills the intermediate picker 
is omitted. These machines, both openers and pickers, have 



58 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

been greatly improved since i860, especially by English manu- 
facturers. The most prominent contribution was Lord's feed- 
regulator (1862), which automatically adjusted the feeding 
of the picker so as to secure even laps. 

While the openers and pickers in use in England and the 
United States are very similar and are run at practically the 
same speeds, there are several significant contrasts. In the 
first place, there are still a few English mills in which the cotton 
from the bales is loosened up by hand without the employment 
of a bale-breaker. But this primitive method is rare. In the 
next place, within the last ten years at least three similar devices 
have been put into use in England for automatically trans- 
ferring the cotton from the bale-breaker to the opener. Unlike 
the Morton Automatic Distributor, these appliances connect 
a single bale-breaker with one hopper-feeder, and the two 
machines are located in the same room. The latter arrangement 
does not cause as great inconvenience as it would in America, 
since the English mills rarely have a separate warehouse but 
store their cotton in one of the rooms in the mill proper. Where 
these feeders are in use, means are provided for automatically 
stopping the bale-breaker when the hopper of the opener is 
full of cotton. The saving in cost of attendance is said to be 
fifty per cent. 1 

The proportion of English mills equipped with the automatic 
feeder was estimated in 19 10 by one of the machinery manu- 
facturers to be sixty per cent, the other forty per cent having 
the cotton from the bale-breaker delivered into bins. The latter 
practice continues because of its advantage for certain grades 
of work. It permits of a better blending where different kinds 
of cotton are mixed, and by permitting the fibre to lie loosely 
in the bin for a time the moisture becomes more nearly equal 
throughout the whole mass. This method is also advan- 
tageous where it is not possible to keep the breaker running 
constantly on the same mixture for the same machines, i. e., 
where one bale-breaker serves for several openers not operated 
on a single grade. These conditions are found in the mills 

1 A. F. Barker, Textiles, p. 328. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 59 

spinning high grade yarn. As the cotton passes on its way 
through the pickers, sometimes called scutchers or lappers, 
there is no essential difference in the method of treating it 
in the two countries, except that one or two additional machines 
are frequently interposed in England. 

For transporting the laps from the picker room to the card 
room the newer English mills are equipped with a device not 
yet introduced in America, so far as I know, — a mono-rail 
track along which pass trucks bearing the laps in a vertical posi- 
tion. It requires no extra rooln, and its use is far less laborious 
than carrying the lap on the shoulder. It is a minor detail, 
but none the less interesting, as it shows the attention given 
to small matters. 

The English have taken the lead in improving the card. They 
have, in fact, brought about a revolution in carding since our 
Civil War, by the introduction of the revolving-flat card. The 
stationary-flat card had been improved in the 'fifties by Wellman, 
an American, who introduced a device for automatically strip- 
ping the flats. 1 In those American mills which had not previously 
adopted it, this type of card came into general use immediately 
after the war. But about the same time the English rnanu-^ 
facturers were developing the revolving-flat card. On this 
card the flats are arranged to move in a sort of endless chain, 
part of them at work and part exposed to be cleaned. It is 
built entirely of steel, whereas the frame of the Wellman card 
was wooden. The steel construction makes possible more ac- 
curate adjustment; the card can now be set to one- thousandths 
of an inch, and adjusted minutely to the grade of work desired. 
It also can be more easily cleaned, more easily and more accu- 
rately ground, and less floor space is required. But of especial 
interest to us is the fact that the output both per machine and 
per operative is greater. 

The principle of this revolving-flat card is said to have been 
known since 1834, but it was not taken up till 1857. 2 The 
first revolving-flat cards were then introduced in England, 

1 R. Cowley, History of Lowell, p. 145. 

2 12th U. S. Census, vol. ix, p. 43. 



60 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

and after the " cotton famine " gradually replaced the old 
roller-and-clearer cards. Even before 1867 some revolving- 
flat cards were imported into the United States, 1 and in 1883 
a card of this type was first made in this country. Yet it was 
not till after 1885 that the rapid replacement of the stationary- 
flat cards began. 2 By the present time, however, the few 
remnants of the old style cards in our mills are being thrown 
out. 

The improvement of carding machinery by the English manu- 
facturers is significant of the attention which they have always 
given to the introductory processes, — the same attention 
which resulted in the improvements in opening and picking 
machinery. This characteristic was shown early in the nine- 
teenth century, for Montgomery, in 1840, commented on the 
better carding in English mills. 3 And very recently Mr. Whittam 
noted a similar difference. 4 The greater waste in carding in 
American mills is explained by the extra labor cost of preventing 
this waste and also by the desire of the American manufacturers 
to get rid of a larger percentage of the short fibre than is removed 
in England. The American manufacturers economize in labor 
rather than in raw cotton, and in order to obtain the maximum 
output per operative push their machinery harder, thus impairing 
the quality of the work, perhaps, and causing more waste. 
In the main, however, there is no great difference in the machines 
or in the speed at which they are run, in the two countries. 
The improvements have been made in England, but they have 
been adopted in the United States. And the saving has prob- 
ably been greater for the American manufacturer, inasmuch 
as the reduction of the labor cost of carding, if relatively the 
same, must have been greater absolutely in our mills. Further, 

1 New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, Transactions, no. 3 (1867), 
p. 21. 

2 A German modification of the revolving-flat card has attained success in its 
own country but is practically unknown elsewhere. During the last two decades 
the Alsatian Machine Manufacturing Company has been perfecting a card on 
which the flats move in a direction opposite to that of English designed machines. 
Its chief virtue is asserted to be a better cleaning of the fibre. 

3 J. Montgomery, Cotton Manufacture, p. 32. 

4 W. Whittam, Jr., Report on England's Cotton Industry, p. 19. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 6 1 

these cards require little skill on the part of the operative 
except for the few grinders necessary, and consequently the 
immigrant can be used for this work. The revolving-flat card, 
therefore, is adapted to the conditions in both the United 
States and England. 

The comber was invented in France by Heilmann in 1845. 1 
Later it was improved by the English manufacturers. Its 
use in American mills has been very limited until recent years. 
This limitation was due to the fact that the comber, which 
separates the long fibres and combs out the short ones so that 
the staple can be spun to greater fineness or with looser twist, 
is employed only in the manufacture of fine yarns or hosiery 
yarns. Since the recent development of the production of these 
yarns with the rise of the knit-goods industry and the increase 
in the output of fine cloth, more combers have been installed. 
Up to 1897 all combers in American mills were imported. 2 In 
that year, however, an American cotton machinery firm intro- 
duced a new and improved comber. About the same time 
similar improvements were made in England and in Germany, 3 
showing that other cotton manufacturing countries were feeling 
the need of reducing the cost of producing combed yarn. The 
principle of all of these new combers was that of the Heilmann, 
the differences being in details. In the American comber (to 
take this for illustration) the speed was increased from 85 or 
90 nips per minute to 130 and 135 nips per minute, the number 
of heads per machine from six to eight, and the width of the lap 
from 8 J inches to 12 inches. Yet the quality of the work was 
not impaired. The effect of these improvements has been to 
cut in two the labor cost of combing, 4 doubling the output per 
operative. The saving on the English or Nasmith comber, 5 
and on the German combers, the Montfort and Alsatian, has 

1 J. Zipser, Textile Raw Materials and their Conversion into Yarn, p. 169. 

2 National Association of Cotton Manufacturers, Transactions, no. 82, p. 340. 

3 New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, Transactions, no. 69, 
pp. 342-346; no. 78, pp. 183-194; no. 82, p. 342. 

4 Ibid., no. 82, p. 344. 

5 The improvements embodied in the Nasmith comber, manufactured by 
Hetherington, were particularly important in making it possible to comb cotton 
of shorter fibre. 



62 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

been nearly as great. In fact, many American manufacturers 
prefer the foreign-made combers and use them in their mills. 
This preference may be due in part to prejudice, but very likely 
to more careful construction of the foreign machines, whereby 
the higher initial cost resulting from the import duty is counter- 
balanced. The economy in labor is about the same in either 
case, and, as in carding, the saving has been absolutely greater 
for the American manufacturer. 

Combers are not in general use in this country, however, 
since the use of the comber necessitates several additional 
handlings. Not only must the cotton be combed, but the 
sliver from the card must first be transformed into a lap on the 
sliver lapper to prepare it for the comber, and usually is also 
put through a ribbon lapper to secure greater evenness. Each 
of these processes enables greater doubling and drawing, whereby 
the uniformity is improved, but the extra labor involved causes 
a considerable increase in the labor cost. This is an important 
reason for the greater cost of manufacturing fine yarns and 
knitting yarns. None the less, the improvements in the comber 
have promoted the manufacture of fine goods and of knit goods 
in the United States. 

Since i860 no change has been made in the drawing-frame 
except to improve its construction. The railway-head, which 
collects the slivers from several drawing-heads and draws them 
into a single sliver, has, however, been abandoned by most 
American manufacturers. Some mills now employ only a single 
process of drawing. And where two sets of drawing-frames 
and a railway-head were formerly used, the American manu- 
facturers have adopted the English practice of using three 
sets of drawing-frames, 1 since the machinery is simpler and 
more easily regulated. Not only has the construction of the 
drawing-frame been made more accurate, but its efficiency 
has also been increased by improvements in the stop-motions 
which were in use before i860. 2 Now the machine stops if 

1 New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, Transactions, no. 71, p. 259. 

2 The first stop-motions for the drawing-frame were invented at Saco, Maine, 
in 1832, by Samuel Batchelder. (S. Batchelder, Early Progress of the Cotton Manu- 
facture, p. 84.) 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 63 

the back sliver breaks, if the front sliver breaks, or when the can 
is full. The electric stop-motion, which has come into general 
use, is the most important of the innovations. The result 
has been to enable the operative to tend more machines, thus 
reducing the labor cost, and to turn out product of better quality. 

The progenitor of the fly-frame was the speeder, invented by 
Danforth, an American, in 1820. * Other types of speeder 
followed. One of these speeders, widely used in American 
mills in 1840, twisted the roving by means of running it through 
belts passing in opposite directions. 2 The English manufac- 
turers, however, radically improved the speeder 3 and eventually 
evolved the present type of fly-frame. By i860 speeders had 
been largely superseded in American mills by fly-frames such 
as are used today, except that the modern machines are longer 
and work more accurately. 

The lengthening of the frame has made it possible for the 
operative to tend more spindles. But of more importance, — 
in fact the thing which has made feasible the greater length of 
the frame, — has been the perfecting of the machine. Roller 
bearings have been introduced, and the construction improved 
throughout. Since 1875, electricity has been applied to the ! 
stop-motions of the fly-frames, producing economies similar 
to those accruing from its use on the stop-motions of the card 1 
and drawing-frame. 4 For the perfecting of these fly-frames 
the cotton manufacturing world is largely indebted to the 
English manufacturers. It is true that some improvements 
have been made in this country, as for example that recently 
introduced by a Boston firm, whereby the arm of the flyer is 
changed so as to increase the output per spindle. But in the 
main the changes have originated in England, and many Eng- 
lish-made fly-frames are to be found in American mills. As 
between the two countries, the machines are similar and run 
at about the same speeds. The improvements have, however, 
been of especial advantage to the American manufacturer since 

1 S. Batchelder, op. cit., p. 72. 

2 J. Montgomery, Cotton Manufacture, p. 61. 

3 Ibid., p. 60. 

4 Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Reports and Awards, vol. iii, Group 8, p. 19. 



64 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

the labor cost has been greatly lessened by increasing the output 
per machine and per operative. 

From this survey of the processes introductory to spinning, 
it appears that there are few differences in the machinery used 
in England and in the United States, and that manufacturers 
in the latter country have on the whole followed in the steps 
of their foreign competitors, even to the extent of using many 
English-made machines in all these processes except opening 
and picking. The readiness with which these inventions have 
been adopted in America shows how well they were adapted 
to the conditions in both countries. Their introduction has 
brought fully as great savings to the manufacturers in the 
United States by the reduction in the labor cost. The cumulative 
effect on the quality of the work has also been important. As 
the elementary processes have been improved, it has become 
possible to obtain better results in the succeeding stages of 
manufacture. The cotton is better prepared for the next 
machine and hence its work is facilitated. 

Since the changes have been at least equally important to 
the American manufacturers, the question may well be raised 
as to how it happens that the English have taken the initiative 
in perfecting these machines. The explanation must be that 
the English have felt the greater pressure at these points. The 
necessity of economizing in raw cotton may have had some 
influence; there is less waste on the improved machines. But 
the chief cause has been the development of fine spinning in 
England. As other countries have established cotton mills 
which have competed in the coarse and medium grades of goods, 
the English manufacturers have engaged in the manufacture 
of finer and finer grades. In order to spin fine yarns it is neces- 
sary to exercise great care in the preparation of the cotton. 
This has attracted attention to the machinery for those processes. 
In the United States the manufacture of fine goods has begun 
to develop only recently. Consequently the American manu- 
facturers have been content to adopt the improvements intro- 
duced by their English rivals, and in the manufacture of coarse 
goods they have received as much if not greater benefit. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 65 

II. Spinning 

By spinning, the fibres of cotton are firmly twisted together 
to form yarn. In the preceding processes only enough twist 
is put in to make the fibres hold together while being doubled 
and drawn. At this stage the cotton is made into a firm, com- 
pact thread. 

If the American manufacturers l have shown little initiative 
in improving the machines for the preparatory processes, the 
story for all the later processes is quite different. Here they 
have introduced new types of machines which to a certain extent 
are peculiar to this country. This characteristic is manifested 
to as great an extent in spinning machinery as in any. 

There are two types of spinning machines, the mule and the 
v ring-frame. The former is of English parentage and descent. 
The latter -is an American product. As the machines are different 
in principle it may be well to give a brief description of each. 2 

First as to the mule. The bobbins of roving as they come 
from the roving frame are placed in rows on top of the machine. 
Then the ends of cotton are drawn through sets of rollers, geared 
so as to revolve at different rates of speed and thus draw out 
the sliver. From the rollers the thread of cotton passes to the 
spindles, which are mounted on a carriage. This carriage 
runs on an iron track, and as the rollers revolve the carriage 
backs away at a speed great enough to draw out the threads 
still more. The carriage withdraws to a distance of about 
sixty-three inches, and during this outward movement the 
spindles revolve, thus spinning the yarn. As the carriage 
returns the yarn is wound on the spindle to form the cone- 

1 By " American manufacturers " are meant both the cotton manufacturers 
proper and the machine manufacturers. In many instances the machine manu- 
facturers introduce improvements or invent new machines. But these are not a 
success till they have been accepted by the mills. Not infrequently some person 
connected with the mill originates an important improvement. Hence the term 
is used in a general sense. It should also be added that the term " manufacturer " 
is applied indifferently to spinners and weavers in America, although used in Eng- 
land to designate the latter. 

2 A good brief description, but more in detail than that given here, can be found 
in J. Zipser, Textile Raw Materials, pp. 184-200. Similar descriptions are to be 
found in other technical books. 



66 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

shaped cop, the process of building being regulated by the 
faller wire, a device which moves up and down to guide 
the yarn. In the meantime the rollers have been inactive, 
since they revolve only during the outward journey of the 
carriage. 

The mule was invented in England in the eighteenth century. 
At first it was operated by hand, but about 1825 the self-actor 
was introduced. The greatest alteration in the mule since 
that date has been the increase in length, from 144 spindles 
to 500 in 1856 and 1,000 to 1,300 at the present time. 1 Other 
minor changes have also been made, — for example the adoption 
of the self-centring principle for the spindle in 1885, 2 and more 
recently the construction of an all-steel carriage. The mule 
has from the first been a very complex machine; few in any 
industry are more complex. 

The ring-frame is less complicated. It consists of sets of 
v rollers, similar to those in the mule, for drawing out the roving. 

But the spindles are directly underneath, and around each 
spindle is a steel ring. There are at least one hundred and 
twelve spindles per machine, and all the rings in each machine 
are fixed in a single frame. On each ring is a little wire, called 
a traveller, through which the thread passes to the bobbin on 
the spindle. As the spindle revolves this traveller is drawn 
around the ring, receiving its impetus from the yarn. Thus it 
revolves a little more slowly than the bobbin, and thereby the 
twist is put into the yarn. At the same time the yarn is wound 
on the bobbin, and in order to secure uniformity in winding 
the frame of rings moves up and down slowly. The ring-frame 
was invented by an American in 1831, but it did not at once 
replace the mule. In fact, in i860 the number of mule spindles 
and the number of ring spindles in use in the United States 
were still about equal. 

After the close of the Civil War, the American manufacturers 
directed their ingenuity to the betterment of spinning machin- 
ery, with the result that in the early 'seventies several improve- 
ments were made in the ring spindle. In these improvements 

1 A. F. Barker, Textiles, p. 328. 2 nth U. S. Census, vol. vii, p. 170. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 67 

Sawyer and Rabbeth were foremost, although other inventors 
soon added their contributions. 1 Several of the inventions 
were combined and the whole construction of the machine 
perfected. The spindle was reduced in weight, made self-acting, 
and its point of support changed to an elevated bolster. By 
these alterations the power cost was reduced, the speed increased, 
and the quality of the work improved. The limit of production 
on the ring spindle is the speed of rotation. Before these im- 
provements were introduced the average speed was 5,500 turns 
per minute, although higher speeds were attained even before 
i860. 2 By 1875 the average speed had been raised to 7,500 
revolutions, and soon after it was further increased to 10,000 
revolutions per minute. At the present time, while the average 
speed is still 10,000 revolutions, on fine yarns it sometimes is 
as high as 12,000 or 13,000 revolutions. 3 The speed is now 
limited by the rapidity with which the operative can make 
good piecings, and by the tendency of the traveller to fly off 
if the spindle revolves at a speed much over 10,000 turns per 
minute. These higher speeds require no more power than was 
employed to drive the old spindle at the lower speed. The 
work is better and the output per spindle greater. The length 
of the frame has been increased and the spinner can care for 
more spindles. As a result the output per spinner has been 
at least doubled. 

There are essential differences, not only in principle, but also 
in operation, between the ring-frame and the mule. On the same 
grade of yarn the speeds of the ring spindle and of the mule 
spindle are about equal. But the product is one-third greater 

1 For an account of the development of the ring spindle see the address by 
W. F. Draper on " The History of Spindles," New England Cotton Manufacturers' 
Association, Transactions, no. 50, pp. 13-46. A good summary is also given by 
G. O. Draper, Textile Texts, 2d ed., pp. 141-154. 

2 Baird stated, in 185 1, that the ring spindle " may be driven at a speed of 
9,000 revolutions per minute, with perfect security, when making coarse yarn, 
and when operating upon the finer numbers 10,000 revolutions per minute is not 
an extraordinary speed to be attained." (Baird, American Cotton Spinner, p. 155.) 
Other accounts do not seem fully to justify this statement, and it is probable that 
the average speed then was considerably less. 

3 Textile World Record, vol. xxii, p. 81. 



68 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

on the former, 1 since it spins continuously, whereas the latter 
spins intermittently. Mule yarn, however, is superior, since 
it is evener by reason of not being wound upon the cop at the 
same time that it is spun. As the thread leaves the rollers it 
is not of exactly the same diameter, and the twist from the 
revolution of the spindles is taken up to a greater extent by the 
thin places. But as the carriage is moving faster than the 
thread comes from the rollers, there is a strain on the yarn 
and the portions in which there is the least twist are drawn 
out, thus reducing the yarn to an even diameter. On the 
ring-frame, however, the spinning is coincident with the winding 
on the bobbin, hence inequalities are not neutralized. More- 
over, the yarn spun on the ring spindle is subject to greater 
strain, from continually dragging around the traveller. The 
constant strain of the traveller of the ring-frame tends to make 
the yarn harder, and the amount of twist can be less easily 
regulated than on the mule. The harder ring-spun yarn is 
better adapted for the warp than for the weft, and was at first 
used only for warp yarn. But improvements making possible 
the spinning of softer yarn have resulted in the spinning of 
filling also on the ring-frame, although even now some manufac- 
turers, particularly the English, maintain that they produce 
cloth with a superior " clothy " feeling by using mule-spun 
yarn. Other manufacturers declare that they can produce 
equally good cloth with ring-spun yarn. 

However that may be, it seems probable that other factors 
have more to do in determining which method of spinning shall 
be used than the feeling of the product. Since mule yarn is 
not twisted as hard and its diameter is greater for the same 
count, it will absorb more sizing and presents a greater surface 
for the size to adhere to. Hence it is preferred for warp yarn 
in the manufacture of certain grades of coarse goods. Further- 
more the mule has a decided advantage in the spinning of fine 
numbers since the greater strain on the ring-frame militates 

1 Nasmith {Recent Cotton Mill Construction, p. 152) estimates the output per 
spindle per week on 32's warp yarn to be 46 hanks (1.4375 pounds) with the ring- 
frame and 32 hanks (1 pound) with the mule. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 69 

against its use beyond a certain point. It is to be said, however, 
that the improvements in the ring-frame have lessened the 
strain and made it suitable for spinning finer and finer numbers, 1 
so that in this country it is now employed to spin the warp yarn 
even in those mills which still use mule-spun weft. 

There are still other differences. On the ring-frame wooden 
bobbins must be used, 2 while on the mule the yarn is wound 
on a little paper tube or on the bare spindle. The mule does 
not require doffing, i. e., the removal of the yarn from the spindles, 
as frequently as the ring-frame, since the cops hold more yarn. 
This enables a saving of time in doffing the mule. Furthermore 
if the yarn is to be shipped out of the mill, the freight charge 
on the wooden bobbins is to be reckoned with. One writer 
estimates that while the cost of carrying paper cops is ten per 
cent of the freight charge on the yarn, the relative freight ex- 
pense for the wooden bobbins is two hundred per cent. 3 It 
costs more to carry the bobbins than to carry the yarn which 
they contain. Moreover the bobbins must be returned. This 
is an extra expense; and there is the possibility of their complete 
loss, especially if the yarn is exported to another country. To 
be sure, much of the warp yarn is shipped in the form of spools, 
skeins, beams, or cones, but the filling is shipped on bobbins 
or as cops. 

The difference in complexity is also important. The simpler 
ring-frame is less liable to break-down and consequent loss of 
time. It is more easily repaired in case of accident. The 
greater complexity of the mule necessitates more care on the 
part of the operative, and the more frequent breaks in the yarn 
require greater attention and more skill in piecing. As a result 
men are always employed as mule spinners. The danger which 
a woman's skirts would entail is another factor hindering the 
employment of women in this occupation. On the ring-frame, 

1 Several American mills are spinning 120's, and even finer yarn on the ring- 
frame. The ring has one advantage here in that the speed is greater than on the 
coarser counts. 

2 In England and Germany paper tubes are used instead of wooden bobbins 
in some ring spinning mills, but the bobbins yield better results. 

3 J. Lister, Cotton Manufacture, p.. 51. 



70 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

on the contrary, the necessary knowledge can be acquired in 
a short time. Little skill is required and the spinners are usually 
women or children. For social reasons it may be preferable 
to have men rather than women and children employed in the 
cotton mills. But from the manufacturer's point of view it 
is often desirable to employ women and children. 

The ring-frame also has an advantage in that it takes up less 
floor space and gives greater facility for lubrication. But 
the most important differences between the ring and the mule — 
to sum up — are those in complexity, in the use of bobbins 
and cops, and in the yarn itself. It is by reference to these 
that we can explain why it is that the ring has been adopted 
to a relatively greater extent in the United States than in Eng- 
land. 

As already stated, the ring spindle is an American invention. 
It has been perfected by Americans, 1 and is most widely employed 
by the American manufacturers. The attention which it has 
received is shown by the number of patents taken out on ring 
spindles in the United States, — no less than three hundred 
and seventy- three between 1870 and 1903. 2 As a result of the 
improvements the ring-frame has largely superseded the mule 
in this country, except for the spinning of fine yarns and hosiery 
yarns. In 1870 the number of ring spindles was but slightly 
greater than the number of mule spindles. Since that date, 
however, almost the entire increase has been in the number 
of ring spindles. This is shown by the Census returns which 
give separately the numbers of ring spindles and of mule spindles 
for each Census year except 1880. 







Spindles in United States 








{In millions) 






1870 


1890 1900 


1905 


Ring . . . 


•• 3-7 


8.8 13.4 


17.9 


Mule . . . 


• • 3-4 


5-4 5-6 


5-2 



Total. . . 7.1 14-2 19-0 23.1 

1 English machine manufacturers have made occasional improvements in the 
ring-frame, but they have been overshadowed by the American contributions. 

2 G. O. Draper, Textile Texts, 2d ed., p. 142. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT JI 

Thus in 1905 there were more than three times as many ring 
spindles as mule spindles in operation in the United States. 
At the present time numerous mills are discarding worn out 
mules and replacing them with ring-frames. Hence the pro- 
portion of mules, in spite of the increase in the quantity of fine 
spinning, is becoming constantly less. 

In Great Britain, on the contrary, the mule predominates. 
It is in that country that the mule has been developed to its 
present high standard of efficiency. Although the ring-frame 
was introduced into England during the 'seventies 1 and its 
use gradually extended, it has never been as extensively adopted 
by the British manufacturers. At the present time the number 
of mule spindles is five times as great as the number of ring 
spindles. In 1909, according to the returns to the International 
Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' 
Associations, there were 39,800,000 of the former and 7,900,000 
of the latter in England. Instead of warmly receiving the 
ring-frame the English manufacturers bent their energies to 
the perfection of the mule. In i860 the self-actor was used 
in the manufacture of only the coarsest yarns, 2 the hand-mules 
still being used for all other work. Gradually, however, the 
self-actor has superseded the hand-mule for all but the highest 
counts, so that today the hand-mule is used in England for 
spinning only the very finest yarns. 

The reasons why the ring-frame predominates in America 
and the mule in England are to be found in the differing condi- 
tions of the two countries. It is not over-conservatism, nor 
preference for spinning by the more scientific method, which 
has induced the British spinner to cling to the mule while the 
American spinner has been introducing the ring-frame. Rather 
it is because the mule fits the needs of the British spinner better, 
while the ring-frame is peculiarly adapted to the conditions 
in this country. 

In the first place, the English mills spin much more fine yarn 
than do the American mills. As the mule is used for finer yarns, 

1 J. Nasmith, Recent Cotton Mill Construction, p. 10. 

2 S. J. Chapman, Lancashire Cotton Industry, p. 70. 



72 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

this partially accounts for the greater number of mules in Eng- 
land. Again, in spinning the lower counts more short-staple 
cotton is used in England than in this country. The English 
purchase more short staple, and they re-work more of the waste 
from the card and comber, thus economizing in raw material. 
This shorter staple would not stand the strain of the ring-frame 
as well since the ends would break more frequently. In the 
third place, the British manufacturers size the yarn more heavily 
for certain grades of cloth. In the United States there is no 
heavy sizing, and no coarse mule warp yarn is demanded for 
this purpose. Finally, we have an important factor in the 
separation of spinning and weaving in England, and their com- 
bination in this country. In England spinning and weaving 
are more generally carried on in separate mills* Relatively 
few establishments both spin and weave. Hence for the English 
spinner the use of the ring-frame would increase expense, in 
shipping weft yarn at least, 1 because of the freight charges 
on the bobbins. In the United States the yarn is usually spun 
and woven in the same mill. If woven in the mill where it is 
spun, it can be handled as conveniently on bobbins as on cops. 
This helps to explain why the use of the ring spindle has been 
restricted in England. So far as this country is concerned, 
however, the combination of spinning with weaving is as much 
a result as a cause of the preference for the ring spindle. 

There are other factors, however, which make ring spinning 
adapted to cotton manufacturing in the United States. These 
are connected with the labor situation. The output per operative 
is greater upon the ring spindle than upon the mule spindle. 
In this country, where the scale of wages is higher, the manu- 
facturers must seek to economize in labor, to reduce the labor 
cost. Even more important than the greater output per opera- 
tive on the ring-frame, is the fact that less skilled labor is neces- 
sary. Thus the labor cost is further reduced. In Great Britain 
a class of skilled cotton mill operatives, almost a hereditary 

1 Ring warp yarn is frequently beamed at the spinning mill, and delivered to 
the weaver in that form. The practice is increasing, in spite of the handicap 
that the weaver incurs by not being able to supervise the warping. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 73 

class, provides an adequate supply of skilled mule spinners. 
In America, on the contrary, the cotton manufacturers have 
always had to adapt themselves to a class of shifting and un- 
skilled workmen. 

During the first half of the century, when the ring-frame 
was being introduced and when the operatives were native 
born, the labor force in the cotton mills was constantly changing. 
The employees looked upon the cotton mills as a convenient 
place whence to get a start in life. Once having obtained that 
start, they left for other employments, so that no skilled class 
was developed. Since the Civil War the foreign immigrants 
have invaded the cotton mills of New England. Some of 
these immigrants have come from Great Britain, and have 
been possessed of sufhcient skill to become mule spinners. But 
not all of them became mule spinners. Many of them took 
up weaving or slasher- tending. Hence the English immigrants 
could not supply the entire demand for spinners, or even a con- 
siderable part of it. The ring-frame, unlike the mule, required 
little experience or skill. Consequently the wives and children 
of the French Canadian, the Irishman, the Pole, and the other 
foreigners that we find in the mill today, could be employed 
as ring spinners. Here, as in many other American industries, 
the possibility of employing the unskilled immigrants and the 
adaptation of machinery to that end has been an important 
factor in promoting the success of manufacturing. 

The situation has been substantially the same in the South. 
The southern manufacturers also have had no supply of skilled 
labor to draw upon, and the ring-frame has been of equal impor- 
tance to the rise of the industry in that section, by making 
possible the employment of unskilled native help. 

It has been frequently stated, and is even now asserted by 
some employers themselves, that the troublesomeness of the 
mule spinners' union has led to the replacement of the mule 
by the ring-frame. It may have had something to do with it. 
But at present mules are being replaced in mills where there is 
not a mule spinners' union no less rapidly than in the Fall River 
mills where the mule spinners' union is considered to be the chief 



74 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

disturbing factor. The fundamental reasons for the throwing 
out of the mules from the American mills are those just stated; 
the lower labor cost of spinning on the ring-frame, the greater 
output per operative, and the possibility of employing " cheap 
labor " for this work. In Great Britain the supply of skilled 
labor, the separation of spinning and weaving, and the special 
qualities of the product have perpetuated the use of the mule. 

III. Spooling, Warping, Sizing 

By these processes the warp yarn is prepared for the loom. 
It is wound from the bobbins or cops of the spinning machine 
on spools, thence to the beam of the warper. From this beam 
the yarn is unwound, passed through the slasher, and then 
rewound on another beam on which it is carried to the loom. 

Most of the improvements in the spooler have originated in 
this country and have been adapted to the needs of our manu- 
facturers. The most important of these improvements has been 
the introduction of the wire bobbin-holder, invented by Wade 
in the 'seventies. 1 This holder has since been modified somewhat, 
but only in detail. Its advantage consists in the possibility of 
running the spooler at a higher rate of speed, and at the same 
time lessening the wear and tear on the bobbins. Means have 
also been provided for taking care of the empty bobbins. The 
first device for this purpose, the chute, delivers the bobbins into 
boxes by the side of the machine. 2 Recently the travelling belt 
has been introduced, whereby the bobbins are collected into 
boxes at the end of the spooler. By these appliances time is 
saved and there is less loss of bobbins. The labor cost of spooling 
has always been relatively high; hence the significance of these 
improvements in cutting it down. They show how the American 
manufacturers have sought to relieve the pressure. 

Not only have the Americans made these improvements in 
the spooler, but the English have been slow in adopting them. 
The wire bobbin-holder is not at all common in England. It is 
not adapted for spooling, or, as the English term it, winding the 

1 Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Reports and Awards, vol. iii, Group 8, p. 20. 

2 G. O. Draper, Textile Texts, 2d ed., pp. 184-185. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 



75 



yarn from mule cops, but even in winding from ring bobbins 
many English mills still use the old style frames on which the 
bobbin is placed on a pin. The speed is not only lower on these 
machines, but more labor is involved in replacing empty bobbins 
with full ones. The ring bobbin, it may be remarked, has an 
advantage over the mule cop, in that the wire bobbin-holder 
can be utilized and there is none of the skewering necessary for 
cops. The American manufacturers by the use of the ring-frame, 
therefore, have profited not only in spinning, but in this process 
as well. 

Another machine which has brought about a saving in the labor 
of spooling is the Barber Knotter. This little machine, invented 
by an American in 1900, 1 is a small affair, worn on the hand of 
the girl who tends the spooler. When a thread breaks, the two 
ends are put together in the machine, and by pressure^ of the 
thumb the ends are tied and the loose pieces cut off. j The knotter 
saves at least ten per cent in the time of spooling. Moreover its 
economies do not stop there, since it ties the ends better than 
they are tied by hand. Consequently in warping the yarn of 
its tying, there are fewer breaks, and less time is lost in piecing. 
In weaving, its effects are no less apparent, since bad knots are 
very likely to cause imperfections in the cloth. The percentage 
of " seconds " in weaving is cut down by its use. Last but not 
least, the knotter not only reduces the labor cost by saving time, 
but also makes possible the employment of less skilled labor by 
doing the work which required most skill on the part of the 
operative. 

The spooler may be on the point of disappearing from gray 
goods mills, since within three years a new creel has been invented 
by Messrs. Fessmann and Hammerle of Augsburg, Germany, 
which makes it possible to beam the yarn directly from the cops 
or bobbins. The chief object of spooling is to secure continuous 
threads of sufficient length for the operation of the warper. The 
latter would have to stop too frequently if single bobbins or cops 
were used. To obviate this difficulty, the new machine is devised 

1 New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, Transactions, no. 72, 
p. '212. 



y6 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

with three cop-holders for each thread from any one of which 
the yarn can be unwound with equal facility. Thus by placing 
a cop on each holder and fastening the inside end of the first to 
the outside end of the second and uniting the second and third in 
the same way, a continuous thread of three cop lengths is available 
for each warper end. As the cop-holders become empty they are 
replenished without stopping the machine. From two to six 
girls, armed with Barber Knotters, are employed to keep the 
creel full. The warper is equipped with a regulator which pre- 
vents irregularity in strain and speed. The greatest economy is 
the ehmination of the labor and power required for spooling, 
and the saving of the floor space previously occupied by the 
spoolers. There is also less waste of yarn and greater produc- 
tivity per warper. The speed of the warper is higher since the 
strain is reduced, and no time is lost in creeling. The American 
manufacturers have not yet had opportunity to test this new 
machine, but if it has no more drawbacks than are at present 
apparent, it will probably find favor in this country. 

The present type of beam warper was invented in England and 
was in use both in that country and in America before i860. 
But it has been greatly improved during the last fifty years, 
especially by American manufacturers. The improvements 
have consisted in the general perfection of the construction, and 
in the application of superior speed regulators and stop-motions 
better than those invented in this country early in the century. 1 
The result has been an increase in speed and in output per 
machine. At the same time the number of machines per warper- 
tender has become larger. vAt present one woman almost in- 
variably tends four machines, whereas thirty or forty years ago 
there was one tender for every warper. In England the manu- 
facturers have been less progressive in bringing their warpers up 
to date, and generally there is but one machine per operative. 
On the Continent hand machines have been employed for warp- 
ing till comparatively recent years. 2 

1 J. Montgomery, Cotton Manufacture, p. 86. 

2 G. Beaumont, U Industrie Cotonniere en Normandie, p. 17; also R. Martin, 
" Die wirtschaftliche Aufschwung der Baumwoll-spinnerei im Koenigreiche Saeh- 
sen," Jahrbuchfiir Gesetzgebung, 1893, pp. 686-689. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 77 

The chain warper, which is used for the yarn dyed or bleached 
before being woven, has also been improved. The improvements 
have especially aided those manufacturers producing certain kinds 
of colored goods, such as stripes and ginghams. But the most 
important inventions in connection with this process have been 
those which aim to prevent snarls and breaks in the dye-house 
and in re-warping and quilling. This object has been attained 
by winding around the chain from end to end a thread which 
holds the yarn together. 1 After the yarn has' been bleached or 
dyed this protecting thread must be unwound; and for this 
purpose a special machine, Straw's Patent, has been devised. 
These innovations, the product of American ingenuity, are of 
recent origin and reflect the greater attention which this class 
of work is receiving from the American manufacturers. The 
dyed warp yarn is re-beamed after the protecting thread has been 
unwound. The machinery for re-beaming is a spot yet untouched 
by the inventor, and the work is still laborious. But the intro- 
duction of the long-chain quiller for preparing the dyed weft 
yarn for the shuttle has reduced the labor cost of that operation, t i 
This long-chain quiller is another recent American invention. 
It requires but one operative, a woman or girl, who with the aid j j 
of this machine, does the work for which eight or nine men were / , 
formerly employed. Yet in spite of the reduction in the labor i 
cost of preparing dyed yarn for the loom during the last ten years, 
the extra labor involved therein is still one of the chief reasons 
for the greater cost of manufacturing goods in which dyed yarn 
is used. 

Since i860 the old dressing process for sizing the warp yarn 
has been superseded by the slasher. 2 The slasher consists 
primarily of a large cylinder with its under surface immersed 
in the sizing solution. Around this the yarn passes, then 
over other cylinders where it is dried before being wound upon 
another beam for the loom. The slasher was invented in 
England and adopted there before i860, but was not imported 

1 G. O. Draper, Textile Texts, 2d ed., p. 212. 

2 The Yorkshire dressing process is still employed in England for preparing 
small quantities of colored warp yarn. 



78 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

into the United States till 1866. 1 In regard to the economies 
which resulted from its introduction, Mr. Atkinson in his report 
for the Census of 1880, 2 stated that " in the use of the slasher 
one man and a boy working in a thoroughly well ventilated room, 
at a moderate degree of heat, took the place of seven or eight 
men who had previously been employed in the same work in a 
room which was of necessity kept at over ioo° F., the atmosphere 
saturated with sour starch. " Another statement of the saving 
accomplished by the slasher was given by Mr.Tyron in an address 
before the New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association 
in 1894. 3 He said " one dresser formerly would only supply 
warp for 100 looms on ordinary sheeting at a labor cost of from 
$18 to $24 per week; at present one slasher will supply warp 
for from 500 to 700 looms on the same class of goods at a cost of 
from $9 to $12 per week." In addition to this economy in labor 
the quality of the product has been improved, since the yarn is 
more evenly sized. The American manufacturers at first 
hesitated to adopt this machine, but were not long in recognizing 
its advantages and as early as 1875 it had come into general use. 
In the United States about the same quantity of size is admin- 
istered to yarn in all the mills, in contrast to the wide variation 
in England. In American mills the amount of size which is 
added to the yarn is usually about six per cent of the weight of 
the yarn, enough to make the yarn weave well. But in Great 
Britain the amount of size varies from less than fifteen per cent 
(pure sizing) to over two hundred per cent (very heavy sizing). 4 
Thus some English cloth called cotton really contains as much, 
or even more, of other material. When the yarn is sized more 
than fifteen per cent the object is not so much to improve its 
weaving quality as to substitute for cotton a cheaper material. 
The practice of heavy sizing in England progressed by gradual 
steps. The stress of competition first encouraged adulteration. 5 
Later the Russian War cut off the supplies of the regular sizing 

1 New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, Transactions, no. 64, p. 208. 

2 10th U. S. Census, vol. ii, p. 13. 

3 New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, Transactions, no. 64, p. 199. 

4 U. S. Daily Consular Reports, March 22, 1907, no. 2824, p. 5. 

5 British Parliamentary Papers, 1833 (690), vol. vi, p. 326. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 79 

materials, and thus increased their price. As a result China 
clay came to be substituted. 1 Again, during the American 
Civil War, when the supply of raw cotton was curtailed, the 
English manufacturers used still more of the " Lancashire 
cotton," 2 and thus the practice of weighting cotton cloth spread. 
It was continued even after the supply of raw cotton resumed 
normal proportions, for the adulterated grades of cloth could be 
manufactured very cheaply. Because of their cheapness they 
have made a market for themselves, especially in Asia. The 
British manufacturers have frequently been accused of cheating 
their customers, of selling their goods under false pretenses. 
These accusations may have been true at an earlier date, but at 
the present time the customers are well aware of the character 
of the cloth which they are purchasing, and are satisfied with their 
bargain. The fact is that the goods are better adapted to their 
purses. At the same time their wearing qualities are not seriously 
impaired. The native purchaser does not wish to wash his clothes. 
He would not wash them even if half their weight would not be 
lost in the operation. He simply wears them till they wear 
out. By catering to this class of customers the English manu- 
facturers have enlarged their markets. Just as they have 
reached out in the one direction to cater to the class desiring 
to buy very fine fabrics, so have they reached out at the other 
extreme to the class of purchasers who can afford to buy only 
the cheapest goods. 

The American manufacturer has been urged constantly to 
adopt this method of heavy sizing to expand his foreign trade. 
Why has he failed to accept this advice ? In the first place, 
as already pointed out, the yarn spun on the ring-frame is not 
so well adapted to taking a heavy size. Hence the method of 
spinning more economical for the American manufacturer is 
not so well suited to this purpose as is that of the English manu- 
facturer. Furthermore, for heavy sizing more supervision is 
necessary. It is to the advantage of the American manufacturer 
to economize in labor for spinning and sizing rather than in raw 

1 British Parliamentary Papers, 1872 (c. 221), p. 2. 

2 Ibid., p. 2; also R. Marsden, Cotton Weaving, p. 325. 






80 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

cotton. All these reasons, however, are less important now than 
they have been in the past. New appliances facilitate the 
spinning of more loosely twisted yarn on the ring-frame, and if 
the heavy sizing were done on a sufficiently large scale the 
American manufacturer could probably turn out this class of 
goods as cheaply as is done in England. But the American 
manufacturer has not yet been compelled to turn regularly to 
foreign markets for the disposal of large quantities of cloth. 
To carry on the trade in heavily sized goods profitably a large 
market would be necessary, since the cost of frequently changing 
the slasher from heavy sizing to pure sizing, and vice versa, 
would be prohibitive. The machine can be run far more econom- 
ically on a single grade of work. Consequently so long as a 
rapidly expanding domestic market continues to absorb the bulk 
of the cloth manufactured in American cotton mills, so long 
will the American manufacturer neglect other markets where 
the competition is keener. Inasmuch as there is no outlet for 
heavily sized goods in the domestic market, he cannot advanta- 
geously run part of his machinery on that grade of work. It 
is not because the American manufacturer is more honest that 
he has failed to develop a trade in heavily sized goods. It is 
because he has found other lines more profitable. 

Let us return, after this digression, to our history of the 
technical development in the remaining departments, — the 
weaving and finishing processes. 

TV. Weaving 

To make the cloth the threads are interwoven according to 
the pattern desired. The threads lengthwise of the cloth, called 
the warp, are sub-divided into two or more sets, which are alter- 
nately raised and dropped to allow the shuttle to pass under and 
over them. The yarn crosswise of the cloth, called weft or filling, 
is carried by the shuttle, and if only one color of weft is used a 
single shuttle is sufficient. But for certain fancy goods and 
especially for ginghams, in which there are several colors of weft, 
a drop-box loom is used, the shuttles being placed one on top 
of the other so that they can be brought into place at the proper 
time by the up and down motion of the box. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 8 1 

After the warp has been sized, the ends must be drawn through 
the harness of the loom. The harness consists of a frame of 
heddles, — cords or wires with eyelets in the centres, through 
each of which a warp thread is drawn. The number of harnesses 
per loom varies from two upward according to the complexity 
of the pattern to be woven. 1 Although several unsuccessful 
attempts 2 had been made to devise a machine for drawing in 
the warp, until very recently the ends were still laboriously 
drawn in by hand. But during the last ten years two machines 
have been invented in this country which are supplanting the 
girls formerly employed for drawing in. 

The first of these machines is a warp tier, the Barber Warp- 
Tying Machine. It was offered to the trade for the first time 
in 1904. To quote from one of the men engaged in introducing 
it, " the broad principle of the machine is to tie the ends of the 
last of an old warp to the corresponding ends of a new warp." 3 
When one warp is nearly used up, the ends are cut so as to leave 
a short piece of each thread in the harness. Then, when it is 
desired to weave another piece of cloth of the same pattern, the 
harness, with these ends still in it, is brought to the tying machine, 
which ties together, one by one, the ends of the old warp and those 
of the new. The principle of the machine is the same as that of 
the spooler knotter previously described. It ties about two 
hundred and fifty knots per minute, and does the work of twenty 
girls. Drawing in by hand had always been a relatively heavy 
expense to the manufacturer; by the use of this machine the 
labor cost is cut down two-thirds. 4 The disadvantage in its 
use is the necessity of keeping many harnesses on hand, one 
for each of the different patterns. For every variation in the 
number of ends or in the number of harnesses per pattern, a 
different set of harnesses must be kept in readiness. Moreover 
the machine cannot distinguish colors. Hence it can be used 
only on plain work. But those mills which make only three or 
four styles of plain cloth are not hindered by these disadvantages. 

1 The most complex patterns are woven on Jacquard looms, on which each 
warp thread is independently controlled. 

2 National Association of Cotton Manufacturers, Transactions no. Si, p. 2S6. 

3 Ibid., no. 78, p. 226. 4 Ibid., p. 227. 



82 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The second of these inventions actually draws the ends through 
the heddles. 1 There is no accumulation of harnesses as under 
the other system, but the drawing-in machine does not turn out 
as much work as the tying machine and wears out the heddles 
more rapidly. Yet it does effect a marked saving over hand 
labor, since one man operating a drawing-in machine will draw 
in about six times as many warps per day as a girl can draw in by 
hand on the same grade of goods. This machine is not limited 
to simple patterns. By means of a Jaquard arrangement, it 
can be used for six harness work. But, like the tying machine, 
the drawing-in machine cannot detect differences in color. 
Hence it, too, can be used only for plain work. Girls are still 
employed for drawing in the warps where there are threads of 
different colors. And even on plain work the machines have 
not entirely superseded the girls, owing to the conservatism of 
some managers. These machines are the result of the burden 
which the American manufacturers have felt because of the 
relatively high labor cost of drawing in the warps by hand, and 
the difficulties of obtaining labor for this work. The growth 
of the industry in this country had intensified the latter 
difficulty. 

The introduction of the warp-tying machine and the drawing- 
in machine has not only cut down the labor cost to the manu- 
facturer, but has also made possible the mechanical performance 
of work which was a severe strain upon the mill workers. 
Drawing in requires very close application on the part of the 
operative, who has to sit in the same position for several hours, 
and watch unremittingly every movement which she makes. 
The release from this exhausting work will be of benefit to the 
health of the operatives. 

While the danger of mistakes prevents the use of these machines 
for drawing warps in which there are various colored threads, 
the bulk of the goods manufactured in this country are plain. 
Hence the machines are adapted to the needs of the majority 
of our cotton mills. As a result of their introduction one of the 

1 Described in National Association of Cotton Manufacturers, Transactions, 
no. 81, pp. 286 ff. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 83 

remaining hand processes in the manufacture of cotton cloth is 
at the present time passing out of existence. 

For weaving, the power loom had entirely superseded the 
hand loom in American cotton mills long before i860, and since 
that date has also shared in the general technical progress. The 
loom invented by Lowell in 18 14 was a cam loom, 1 the English 
type, introduced by Gilmore a year later, a crank loom. 2 The 
latter method of driving gradually gained a predominancy. 3 
An early American invention of importance was Draper's self- 
acting temple (1816). The Cartwright loom (1786) had been 
provided with temples for stretching the cloth to its full width 
as fast as it was woven, but the Draper temple was an important 
innovation. Self-acting temples were not adopted in England 
till long after they were in general use in America. 4 In i860, 
however, English and American plain looms were on a nearly 
equal footing. 

The dobby, for controlling a larger number of harnesses than 
can be used on a plain loom, was invented in England, although 
it is said to be an adaptation of the chain motion devised 
by William Crompton of Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1837. 
George Crompton brought the dobby to America in 1878, and 
then proceeded to improve it. Similarly the drop-box loom 
which had been invented by Robert Kay and adapted to power 
in England in 1845, 5 was improved after its introduction into 
the United States. These looms received attention earlier in 
England since the production of fancy fabrics was much larger 
in that country. 

In consequence of the numerous improvements of the loom 
the speed was increased and the amount of necessary attention 
reduced. In 1879 one weaver of cotton cloth could tend five 
or six looms running at a speed of 130 to 140 picks per minute, 
whereas in 1832 in producing the same fabric one weaver tended 

1 Samuel Webber, Manual of Power, p. 31. 

2 Ibid., p. 35. 

3 Ibid., p. 31. 

4 J. Montgomery, Cotton Manufacture, p. 102; S. Batchelder, Early Progress 
of Cotton Manufacture, p. 87. 

5 Encyclopedia Brittanica, nth ed., vol. xxviii, p. 446. 



84 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

two or three looms which ran at 70 picks per minute. 1 Between 
i860 and 1880 the improvements in the plain loom caused an 
increase of twenty per cent in the output per machine. 2 After 
1880 the changes were not so much in the direction of higher 
speeds as in more perfect work and especially the reduction of 
the amount of oversight required, which enabled the manufac- 
turer to give more looms to each weaver. The Census report of 
1880 stated 3 that a weaver with six looms would produce about 
1,500 yards of cloth per week. That average would hold true 
today, as representing the output per loom, but instead of four 
or six looms 4 a weaver now has eight, ten, or even a larger 
number. 

The improvement in the quality of the product of the loom 
and the diminution of the amount of necessary attention have 
been facilitated by the application of better stop-motions, 5 — 
devices which stop the loom automatically when a warp thread 
breaks, or when the shuttle is out of place. Those warp stops 
which had been introduced prior to the Civil War were adapted 
only to looms weaving coarse cloth. With the increase in the 
manufacture of fine and medium goods it became desirable to 
apply warp stop-motions to the looms on those grades, and as 
a result of the successful use of finer and thinner wire in their 
manufacture, 6 they are now found in every up-to-date mill on 
all grades of work. These stop-motions have received their 
greatest improvements and exploitation in this country. As a 
result of the use of the stop-motion and an increase in the 
length of the shuttle (1905) the piece rate for weaving was 
reduced thirty-three and one-half per cent in Fall River. 7 

The most significant feature in the development of looms has 
been the introduction of the automatic loom. Of several types 
of automatic loom, one stands out preeminently, the Northrop 

1 National Association of Wool Manufacturers, Bulletin, vol. ix, p. 40. 

2 10th U. S. Census, vol. ii, p. 52. 

3 Ibid., p. 52. 

4 In i860 there were practically no weavers tending more than four looms. 

6 New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, Transactions, no. 68, p. 319. 

6 Ibid., p. 319. 

7 Mass. Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Bulletin No. 36, p. 63. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 85 

loom. This loom was put upon the market in 1894 by the 
Draper Company, a perfected machine. It was the outcome 
of the efforts of five inventors devoted to this task for several 
years with the definite object of producing a practicable auto- 
matic loom. The fundamental principle of the machine was 
originated by Northrop, whose name it bears, but at least equal 
credit is due the Draper Company, because of the foresight 
and ability of their managers and experimenters through whose 
efforts success was ultimately achieved. The new features 
embodied in it are, in the words of one of the inventors, " a 
bobbin changing device, a filling hopper from which bobbins 
or cops are automatically transferred to the loom shuttle, a 
peculiar shuttle which can be threaded automatically by the 
motion of the loom, devices that act to stop the loom if the 
shuttle is not in position, and a warp stop-motion to prevent 
the making of poor cloth.' ' * The most important of these 
innovations is the weft changing device. The shuttle is not 
changed when it has exhausted the thread on a bobbin, but the 
empty bobbin is automatically thrown out, and a full bobbin 
just as automatically put in its place. This change is made so 
quickly that the speed of the loom is not retarded. The amount 
of time which was formerly spent in the stoppage of the loom 
on account of exhausted shuttles is thus saved. On the common 
loom the shuttle has to be changed every eight minutes or 
oftener. 2 The Northrop loom stops only when a warp thread 
breaks or the shuttle is out of position, thus saving perhaps 
one hundred stops a day. 3 The use of one shuttle eliminates a 
large amount of labor in setting the pick, i. e., adjusting the 
mechanism which drives the shuttle. And the saving in the 
wear and tear of the machinery from frequent stoppage is not 
inconsiderable. In order to bring these results to perfection, 
a reliable warp stop was necessary, and it is in the designing of 
the Northrop loom that particular attention was bestowed upon 

1 New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, Transactions, no. 59, p. 91. 

2 1 2th U. S. Census, vol. ix, p. 44. 

3 In 1895, W. F. Draper estimated the saving in the number of stops per day 
to be 200; see New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, Transactions, 
no. 59, p. 93. 



mmmmm 



86 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

the subject. This stimulated an interest which resulted in the 
application of a similar device to plain looms. 

Another point, and one on which enough emphasis has not 
been laid, is the automatic threading device, a boon to the weaver 
who formerly had to thread the shuttle from five hundred to 
one thousand times a day, 1 sucking in the filling each time. In 
doing this he inhaled more or less cotton lint, to say nothing of 
sizing materials, dust, and dye-stuff. No wonder that weavers 
had been spoken of as a consumptive class! The automatic 
threading device has stimulated other manufacturers to devise 
means for mechanically threading the shuttle on plain looms. 2 
Yet in many mills the shuttles are still threaded in the old way. 

Since its first introduction the Northrop loom has been im- 
proved in various details so as to enable it to weave fabrics more 
nearly perfect and to adapt it to a wider range of work. At the 
outset it was necessary to use ring-spun filling, but by means of 
skewers mule cops can now be transferred to the shuttle as 
easily as bobbins. And it is no longer confined to the manu- 
facture of coarse, plain goods. Several manufacturers are now 
successfully weaving fine cloth on Northrop looms, and other 
manufacturers are producing fabrics of more and more compli- 
cated patterns. 3 

The chief advantage of the Northrop loom consists in a saving 
of labor. It has reduced the labor cost of weaving one-half, a 
fact which is particularly significant since the labor cost of 
weaving previously constituted one-half of the entire labor cost 
of manufacturing cotton cloth. This saving has resulted from 
the increased number of looms per weaver. One weaver now 
tends from fourteen to thirty Northrop looms, 4 where before he 
tended six to eight common looms. At the same time less skill 
is required on the part of the operative. Notwithstanding this 

1 New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, Transactions, no. 59, p. 93. 

2 Ibid., no. 68, p. 325. This subject is receiving careful attention from the 
English weavers' union, with the expectation that self-threading shuttles may be 
universally adopted in that country. In 191 1, the Massachusetts legislature 
enacted a law requiring the use of mechanically threading shuttles in all cotton 
factories in that state. 

3 G. O. Draper, Textile Texts, 2d ed., p. 252. 
* In one Southern mill one weaver was tending 34 Northrop looms in 1909. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 87 

increased output of the weaver, there has been no lack of work 
for this class of mill operatives. Rather has the change relieved 
a strain felt by the manufacturers, who often found it difficult 
to obtain enough weavers. J With the rapid expansion of the 
industry during the last fifteen years the difficulties of obtaining 
skilled weavers would have been much greater had it not been 
for the introduction of this loom. Yet the Northrop loom has 
not been adopted in all mills which are making goods that could 
be woven on it. Since the initial cost is heavy, many manu- 
facturers have not deemed it profitable to scrap their plain 
looms. But it has been installed in most of the new mills, 
especially in the South. As the plain looms in the older mills 
wear out, they will, without doubt, be replaced by automatics. 1 

The Northrop and other automatic looms of analogous type 
were at the outset suitable for weaving only plain cloth and 
fabrics with stripes or figures formed by manipulation of the warp 
threads. It was a more serious problem to devise a means for 
automatically supplying weft to a drop-box loom, which uses 
filling of several colors. 2 A drop-box loom, it may be repeated, 
has two or more shuttle boxes, according to the number of 
colors of weft yarn. The boxes are placed vertically, one above 
the other, and their movement is made to conform to the details 
of the pattern which is being woven. The best known cloths 
woven upon drop-box looms are checks and ginghams. Some 
of these fabrics have very narrow weft stripes; hence the failure 
to change shuttles at exactly the proper moment, the passage 
of an empty shuttle, or the insertion of a thread of the wrong 
color, would produce a noticeable and serious fault. These 
stringent requirements for accuracy and the multiplicity of 
shuttle boxes were obstacles in the path of an automatic drop- 
box loom. Nevertheless the difficulties have been overcome. 

In 1895, immediately after the appearance of the Northrop 
loom, Crompton and Knowles, loom manufacturers of Wor- 

1 The number of Northrop looms installed in American cotton mills up to 
January 1, 191 1, was approximately 200,000, and several thousand had also been 
placed in European factories. 

2 This subject was discussed at slightly greater length by the author in the 
Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. xxv, pp. 746-750. 



88 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

cester, Massachusetts, began to experiment with automatic 
gingham looms. The first patent was taken out by Charles 
Crompton and Horace Wyman, and in 1905 a few such machines 
were placed in operation. During the following five years 
continual refinement and alteration materially improved this 
loom, which was adapted to the use of " filling of different 
colors inserted at pre-determined intervals, and equipped with 
the necessary detector and safety devices to admit of weaving 
practically perfect goods." 1 

The first examples of these automatic drop-box looms were 
equipped with circular revolving magazines from which the 
bobbins were supplied to the shuttles, and in which the bobbins 
were arranged in such an order that the machines always took 
yarn of the proper color. That form of magazine has been 
discarded, however, in favor of a vertical stationary magazine 
provided with a separate section for each color of weft yarn. 
Similarly, the original electrical detector has been largely super- 
seded by a mechanical detector which feels the amount of thread 
on the bobbin at each passage of the shuttle. When a bobbin 
is nearly depleted another of the same color is automatically 
selected from the magazine. Yet it cannot always be introduced 
immediately into the shuttle, since the pattern may demand a 
shuttle from another box for the next pick. Consequently the 
selected bobbin is held in suspense until the shuttle for which 
it is intended again comes into action. The parts work in unison 
so that a fresh bobbin cannot be placed in the wrong shuttle. 
Several of the patents of the Northrop loom were utilized and 
great credit is due to that pioneer work. Nevertheless, the 
surmounting of the difficulties peculiar to an automatic drop-box 
loom is an achievement of the first order. 

The automatic gingham loom runs at least as fast as the 
ordinary loom employed for similar work, namely 165 picks per 
minute, and occasionally exceeds that speed by five picks per 
minute. Therefore there is no loss in that direction. Moreover 
the automatic loom is more constantly in operation, inasmuch 
as it does not stop each time a bobbin is empty. Thus there is 

1 Quoted from circular published by the company. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 89 

a closer approach to its highest potential productivity. Of 
even more importance, particularly to American manufacturers, 
is the reduction in the amount of attendance required. In this 
country a weaver customarily tends six ordinary drop-box 
looms, but with the automatic loom the number is at least 
doubled and may be as high as sixteen per weaver. Although 
a recent innovation, one manufacturer has already installed 
two thousand of these looms and several others have ventured 
to try them. 

With the introduction of the Crompton and Knowles loom one 
may prophesy that eventually all types of cotton looms will be 
provided with automatic weft-changing devices. The history 
of the power loom in the nineteenth century is being repeated 
by the automatic loom in the twentieth century. 

In England the plain looms have undergone as great improve- 
ments during the last fifty years as have the plain looms in the 
United States. In the latter country, however, the under-pick 
loom is universally employed, whereas the English manufacturers 
use a different type, — the over-pick, loose-reed loom, invented 
by Dickinson of Blackburn, in 1828. 1 

The two types of looms are different in that the picking sticks, 
which propel the shuttle at each end of the loom, are for the 
over-pick fastened horizontally above the loom sley and shuttle 
boxes and for the under-pick are fixed to each end of the sley, 
passing through a slot in the lower part of the shuttle box. 2 
The over-pick loom can be driven at a speed 20 to 40 picks 
faster per minute, or about fifteen to twenty per cent quicker 
than the under-pick. But the over-pick loom requires more 
careful attention to guard against the collection on the picker of 
dirt, which would fall upon the cloth and cause oil stains; and 
the higher speed more rapidly exhausts the yarn in the shuttle. 

The English manufacturers prefer the over-pick loom since 
it can be run at a higher rate of speed, and a greater output per 

1 R. Marsden, Cotton Weaving, p. 88. This over-pick loom, sometimes called 
the Blackburn loom, was not altered for about twenty-five years and has since 
been changed only in minor details. The invention of this loom was especially 
influential in driving out the hand loom. 

2 H. B. Heylin, Cotton Weaver's Handbook, p. no. 



oK 



90 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

loom obtained. But the number of looms per weaver in English 
mills is about one-half of that in American mills. Consequently, 
although the speed of the looms is greater, the output per weaver 
is less in England. The adherence of the English manufacturers 
to the over-pick loom is due in the main to the difference in labor 
conditions. They have a larger supply of skilled weavers, and 
a somewhat lower wage scale. Hence it is to their advantage 
to increase the output per machine even if the output per opera- 
tive is less. Moreover, owing to the strength of the labor 
unions in the English cotton industry, a weaver is paid at the 
same rate per cut without reference to the number of looms 
which he tends. In American mills, on the contrary, a weaver 
is paid less per cut when he tends more looms. Though the rate 
per cut is less, his total earnings are greater, because he " gets 
off " a greater number of cuts. At the same time, the lower 
rate per cut effects a considerable saving to the manufacturer 
in the labor cost of weaving. The American manufacturers 
have not adopted the over-pick loom because it requires more 
attention from the operative. They have clung to the loom 
which gives the greatest output per weaver. 

The hand loom remained in use on the Continent long after 
it had disappeared from American and English cotton mills. 1 
In the United States the hand loom was not used in cotton 
mills after 1830, nor in England to any extent after i860. 2 But 
in France, as late as 1885 cotton cloth was being woven on more 
than 33,000 hand looms, 3 which was more than one- third of the 
total number of looms in the country at that time. In Germany 
the use of the hand loom persisted even longer. In 1861 only 
nine per cent of the looms in Germany were power looms, 4 and 
in 1908 Rieger's list showed about 3,000 hand looms in German 
cotton mills. 5 About 4,500 of the looms in Switzerland at 

1 E. Helm, " An International Survey of the Cotton Industry," Quarterly 
Journal of Economics, vol. xvii, p. 422. 

2 W. J. Ashley, British Industries, p. 69. 

3 H. Lecomte, Le Colon, p. 368. 

4 A. Oppel, Die Baumwolle, p. 654. 

5 W. Rieger, Verzeichnis der im Deutscken Reiche auf Baumwolle laufenden 
Spindeln und Webstiihle, ed. 1909. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 9 1 

the present time are hand looms. 1 In Italy in 1903, 13,807 
of the 78,700 looms employed for weaving cotton cloth were 
hand looms 2 and the number is still large. 3 The antiquated 
type of machine has persisted longer in these countries because 
of the difference in labor conditions. With a large supply of 
more or less skilled labor willing to work for low wages, there 
has not been the same incentive for the introduction of labor 
saving machinery. The lack of this incentive, the conserva- 
tism of the managers and of the workmen, and the greater cost 
of the more expensive power loom, have* retarded the extinction 
of the hand loom. The Continental manufacturers have econo- 
mised in capital; the English manufacturers, and to a greater 
extent the American, in labor. 

A similar hesitancy has been shown by the European manu- 
facturers in accepting the Northrop loom. Although in England 
this loom has secured a firm foothold, it has not been accepted 
there nearly so readily as in the United States. Its inventor, 
an Englishman by birth, 4 attempted to induce English machine 
manufacturers to take up his idea. Failing in that, he came 
to the United States, the " inventors Paradise," 5 where his 
suggestions were welcomed and developed. For the same 
reasons that its introduction has been slower, its use will prob- 
ably be more limited in England than in the United States. 
In the first place, the mule cop is not so well adapted to the 
hopper of the Northrop loom as is the bobbin of the ring-frame. 
Although this difficulty has been partly removed by skewering the 
cops, that operation takes time. Again, the loom has been 
adapted but gradually to the weaving of fine goods, and even 
now many of the fine goods manufactured in England could 
not be woven advantageously on the Northrop loom. Thus 
there is a considerable field in England which it cannot reach, 
a field which is not only absolutely, but relatively larger than 
in the United States. In spite of the advance in the production 

1 S. L. Besso, Cotton Manufacturing in Switzerland and Italy, p. 4. 

2 Annuario Statistico Italiano, 1907, p. 452. 

3 S. L. Besso, op. cit., pp. 165 ff. 

4 T. M. Young, American Cotton Industry, p. 22. 
6 Ibid., p. 136. 



92 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

of finer cotton cloth in this country, the bulk of our output is still 
the coarse and medium grades of plain goods. Another retard- 
ing factor has been the risk and expense of introducing the new 
device. 1 In the United States, even, many manufacturers have 
delayed the installation of Northrop looms until their common 
looms should be worn out, Similarly in England the cotton 
manufacturers have been unwilling to scrap their machinery and 
put in these expensive looms so long as their old looms are still 
serviceable. The orders, moreover, are smaller in England, and 
the number of looms running upon a single pattern is generally 
less than in an American factory. Changes are more frequent 
in the mills of the former country and, what is mare important, 
it is often impossible to avoid employing a Northrop loom 
weaver upon fabrics of several designs. When that is done 
the weaver cannot undertake the supervision of so large a number 
of machines. Finally, the attitude of the workmen has not 
favored the introduction of the automatic loom. While there 
has been no open opposition, the weavers do not look with favor 
upon the automatic loom and have not carefully sought to 
secure its best results. The employers have apprehended 
difficulty in inducing weavers to accept lower piece rates, and 
only with lower piece rates would the Northrop loom be a 
profitable investment. The English manufacturers, more- 
over, do not feel so great pressure to introduce labor saving 
machinery. Even were the loom to be generally adopted by 
them, the absolute saving would be less than in this country. 
As in England, so in the other cotton manufacturing countries 
of Europe, the Northrop loom has been introduced but slowly. 
In France a few mills have experimented with it, but the number 

1 The high price of the loom has had a very deterrent influence on prospective 
purchasers. The loom aroused the interest of the European manufacturers, but 
its expensiveness has led them to search for a cheaper substitute. The scope of 
their experiments is indicated by the fact that I saw no less than eight types of 
automatic looms, all of domestic manufacture, in European cotton mills during the 
year 1910-11. This probably does not exhaust the list, since several of the looms 
were in operation only in the factories where they were invented, and it is reason- 
able to suppose that other experiments were being carried on more or less secretly 
in mills not visited. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 93 

of the new looms per weaver has been only from eight to ten, 1 
about one-half as many as in the United States. Similar experi- 
ments in other countries do not succeed in bringing the average 
output per weaver up to that in the United States. Once more 
the lack of economy in labor in European cotton mills shows 
itself. The Northrop loom is not only the product of Ameri- 
can enterprise, but it is peculiarly adapted to the industrial 
conditions prevailing in this country. Nevertheless, the wide- 
spread interest in automatic looms manifested by European 
manufacturers suggests that the plain loom will eventually be 
superseded, even in the more conservative countries. 

In all of the processes in the manufacture of cotton cloth, 
the question of humidity is important. The machinery and 
the cotton passing through the machinery generate a certain 
amount of electricity which, by causing the cotton to curl up, 
affects the smoothness with which the work runs. Cotton 
manufacturing is therefore facilitated by a humid atmosphere 
which reduces the amount of electricity generated. Localities 
with an unusually moist climate formerly possessed a great 
advantage over the districts less favored in this respect, but 
during the last half of the nineteenth century American cot- 
ton manufacturers have devised means for artificially humidify- 
ing the atmosphere in their mills and are now able to regulate 
the moisture with a fair degree of accuracy. Not many American 
mills are without such an equipment, although a few still ad- 
here to the old fashioned practice of injecting raw steam directly 
into the rooms. In Lancashire, as every one who has expe- 
rienced its climate knows, the natural humidity is great and 
the mills less frequently find artificial humidification necessary. 
Yet there the practice of " steaming," especially where heavily- 
sized cloth was to be woven, became so serious that to protect 
the health of the operatives the Cotton Cloth Factories Act 
was passed. This prescribes the quantity of air per head and 
the maximum humidity. In the United States, unfortunately, 
no such protection is afforded. 

A new device is being introduced in America at the present 

1 Enquete sur VEtat de V Industrie Textile, vol. iv, p. 77. 



94 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

time which may make air moisteners unnecessary. This device 
attacks the problem from a different quarter by seeking to 
neutralize the static electricity in the machine and the cotton, 
through the generation of a counteracting current of electricity. 
The very simplicity of its principle makes it seem almost strange 
that no one has applied it before. If it proves a success, as it 
bids fair to, the necessity of humidification will be done away 
with, and thereby the health of the operatives benefited and the 
manager relieved of the trouble of regulating the degree of 
humidity. 

V. Converting and Finishing 

There is great variety in the machines for converting and 
finishing cotton cloth, since, after it has been woven, it may be 
bleached, printed, dyed, or mercerized, and then put through 
numerous other machines to finish it, before being shipped. 
Each of these machines and processes has a history of its own. 
A brief summary will suffice to show the general tendencies of 
the development. 

The methods of bleaching have undergone few changes during 
the last fifty years, or even during the last century. With more 
accurate knowledge of the chemicals employed it has become 
possible for the bleachers to adjust their methods more scien- 
tifically to the different grades of work. The machinery in 
general, and the boiling kiers in particular, have been improved, 
so that a greater quantity of work can be turned out per machine 
with less labor. 1 Better facilities for drying have also been 
an important factor in lessening the amount of time necessary 
for the process. 2 The methods and machinery for bleaching are 
much the same in Europe and America, although there is, per- 
haps, more machinery in American bleacheries, and the cloth 
is run through at a somewhat greater speed. Because of this 
difference in speed a greater quantity of cloth is bleached with 
a given amount of labor. 

As in bleaching, so in printing, no new types of machines 
have been introduced during the last half-century. Cylinder 

1 New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, Transactions, no. 77, p. 170. 

2 See infra, p. 97. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 95 

printing was first used in England in the last quarter of the 
eighteenth century, and in the United States in 1810. 1 The 
machine was gradually elaborated so that more and more rollers 
could be used, and patterns embodying a larger number of 
colors printed. About 1876, an Englishman (Gadd) invented 
the double-faced machine which printed eight colors simul- 
taneously on both sides of the cloth. 2 But the greatest change 
has come about in the coloring materials, as a result of the 
discovery and application of the coal-tar colors. 3 A young 
Englishman, Perkin, discovered the first of these in 1856, and 
in 1858 Hofmann, a German, discovered aniline red. Since 
then many more have been found. In the development of 
this auxiliary industry the Germans have been preeminent and 
consequently have developed a large export trade in these 
products. While some synthetic dye-stuffs are now manu- 
factured in this country, the greater part used in our mills is 
still imported from Germany. The introduction of these dyes 
has brought about a revolution by reducing the labor cost and 
widening the range of colors. All cotton manufacturing coun- 
tries, however, have benefited to the same degree from these 
inventions. 

Concurrently with this change in coloring materials has come 
an improvement in the designs of American prints. But the 
one has been rather a means than a cause of the other. The 
improvement in design has been the result of the general develop- 
ment of the cotton manufacturing industry, and particularly 
of the rise of cotton manufacturing in the South. The com- 
petition of the southern mills has forced the New England manu- 
facturers to produce goods of a higher grade. But even yet 
there is little originality in American designs; they are largely 
copied from Paris. Moreover, the American manufacturers 
use fewer designs, and turn out a much greater quantity of cloth 
of any one design, than do the European manufacturers. This 

1 8th U. S. Census, " Manufactures," p. 18. 

2 LTndustrie de Mulhouse, p. 368. 

3 A good description of these discoveries is given by A. Sansone, Recent Progress 
in Dyeing and Calico Printing, vol. i; also Cyclopedia of Textile Work, vol. vi, 
pp. 149-235; and A. H. Allen, Commercial Organic Analysis, vol. iii, pp. 100-104. 



96 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

is because of the economies of large scale production. It costs 
less per yard to print large quantities of a single design. There 
is an additional saving in that, where fewer designs are printed, 
it is not necessary to keep so many copper rollers in stock. 1 

The invention of the artificial dye-stuffs obviously has been 
an important factor in the progress not only of printing 
but of dyeing, a progress which has been especially rapid since 
the discovery of " Congo red " by Bottiger in 1884. 2 This was 
the first of the so called " direct cotton dyes," and it has been 
followed by many others. As in printing, the cost of dye-stuffs 
has been reduced and the results improved. This has led to 
an increase in raw-stock dyeing. 3 For ginghams and other 
goods in which yarns of different color are used, the dyeing of 
the raw stock eliminates the expense of preparing the yarn for 
dyeing, and of re-warping or quilling it after it has been dyed. 4 
But there are some disadvantages which, partially at least, 
offset this saving. It is true that one difficulty has been over- 
come. Formerly the dyed cotton did not spin well, but this 
has been remedied by the introduction of single-dip dyes. Yet 
there is still the loss of dye-stuff which colors the cotton that 
goes to waste; a loss, to be sure, which becomes less as the 
price of the dye-stuffs falls. The chief difficulty is that raw- 
stock dyeing necessitates the addition of a dyeing equipment 
to the manufacturing plant. The yarn can be sent away to a 
special dye-house to be dyed; the raw cotton cannot. Hence, 
while many of the gingham mills and some other mills dye 
their raw stock, there is still a great deal of yarn dyeing. 
Finally, new machines, Straw's Patent and the chain quiller, 
have reduced the cost of re-warping and quilling the dyed yarn. 

Piece dyeing, too, has shared in the general progress. As 
in bleaching and printing, large lots are dyed at once in an 

1 S. H. Higgins, Dyeing in Germany and America, p. 49. 

2 Cyclopedia of Textile Work, vol. vi, p. 149. 

3 New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, Transactions, no. 70, 

p. 318. 

4 Recently a new method of cop dyeing, by means of which the yarn is dyed 
without being re-wound, has attained success in England. But ring yarn (on 
bobbins) obviously cannot be treated in that way. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 97 

American dye-house, 1 since it does not pay to put through small 
quantities. The necessity of economy in labor has forced the 
American to carry on the work of dyeing, like other work, on a 
large scale. 

A recent development of importance in the converting of 
cotton cloth has been the introduction of mercerization. This 
process " consists in treating cotton, in the condition of yarn or 
of woven goods, to the action of caustic soda dissolved in water, 
and treating it subsequently with pure water and with dilute 
sulphuric acid for the purpose of washing out or chemically 
extracting the soda that remains in the yarn or fabric. The 
process effectuates both a chemical and a physical change in the 
constitution of the fibre." 2 The results of this mercerization 
are an increase in the strength of the material, greater affinity 
of the goods for certain dyes and mordants, and a silk-like appear- 
ance. But the yarn is less elastic. Moreover it has been suc- 
cessfully applied only to Egyptian and Sea Island cotton. The 
process is simple, but great care must be exercised in its applica- 
tion. It was invented by John Mercer, an Englishman, in 1844 
or 1846, and first put into practice in England. But only since 
the improvements of the last twenty years has it developed to any 
extent either in England or in other countries. At present, 
cotton manufacturers are gradually taking it up both in the 
United States and in Europe. The methods are the same in 
the different countries. 

In connection with converting machinery, mention should be 
made of the progress since i860 in the machinery for drying the 
cloth. 3 Drying cylinders were first used for colored cloth, but with 
the increase in the amount of cloth to be dried cylinders came 
to be used also for white goods which had formerly been dried 
in sheds. Recently the cell drier has been introduced into a 
number of plants for all grades of work. 4 This machine, in 
which the large cylinders are replaced by small copper boxes 
filled with high pressure steam, about fifty of them being enclosed 

1 S. H. Higgins, Dyeing in Germany and America, p. 78. 

2 12th U. S. Census, vol. ix, pp. 52-53. 

8 New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, Transactions, no. 63, p. 237. 
4 S. H. Higgins, Dyeing in Germany and America, pp. 54-55. 



98 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

in one big box, was invented by an American, and is adapted 
to the conditions peculiar to this country. The cloth can be 
run through at a high rate of speed, and the machine is conse- 
quently used to advantage only where large quantities of cloth 
are to be dried at once. 

There has been a similar development of other machines for 
finishing cotton cloth. We now find improved machines of 
American origin for sewing together the ends of the pieces of 
cloth. The shearing machines are much larger, more complete, 
with more cleaning appliances, and have rolling attachments. 
And they are run at a higher speed. Stretching machines have 
been greatly improved. Calendering machinery is more efficient, 
and runs faster. In singeing practically the same methods are 
employed as fifty years ago. 1 But the inspecting is now done 
more carefully, with the aid of mechanical devices. And finally, 
the cloth is now mechanically measured and folded. Some of 
these machines are used in finishing all kinds of goods. Others 
are used only for a single kind, as for example, the loop-cutter 
that cuts the loose warp- threads 'on the back of warp-spot 
goods, 2 which previously had to be cut by hand before shearing. 

The same types of finishing machines are, in general, used in 
both English and American mills. Great improvements in 
finishing machines have been made in this country during the 
last fifty years, especially those patented by Curtis and Marble, 
of Worcester, large manufacturers of brushing, shearing, and 
cleaning machinery for cotton cloth. But imported machinery 
is also employed. The machines are run at a somewhat faster 
speed, however, in American mills. Thus, as in almost every 
instance where the type of machine is the same in England and 
in the United States, the manufacturers push their machines 
harder in this country. 

1 Yarn singeing, or gassing, has received more attention in England because 
of the greater demand for gassed yarn for lace manufacture and like purposes. 
The result is that yarn gassing machines have been improved. The Joseph Stubbs 
Co. have played an important part in this progress, and Asa Lees & Co. have 
recently placed a new machine upon the market. 

2 Warp-spot goods are those in which small spots or figures are made by weaving 
in a group of warp threads only at intervals. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 99 

To sum up: the effect of all the improvements in cotton 
manufacturing machinery during the last fifty years has been 
cumulative as regards both quantity and quality. An improve- 
ment in one machine has not only facilitated its work, but at 
the same time prepared its product better, so that the next 
machine could in turn be operated more rapidly and more 
efficiently. In these improvements the American cotton manu- 
facturers have played an important part. We cannot say that 
their contributions have been greater than those of their English 
rivals. But in these two countries have been made nearly all 
the important inventions in cotton machinery since i860. 

Of the occasional inventions in other countries, most have 
originated in Mulhausen, — the Heilman comber, the new 
Alsatian comber, and the peculiar card and new automatic 
loom of the Alsatian Machine Manufacturing Company. The 
Germans have also made a very important contribution by devel- 
oping the synthetic dye-stuffs. Yet it should not be forgotten 
that the entire western world is tributary to Paris for original 
designs to be used in weaving and printing as well as in the lace 
and embroidery industries. Perhaps this continual manifesta- 
tion of French artistic skill should not be classed with mechanical 
inventions. As regards the latter, the contributions made in 
Continental countries have been conspicuous because so infre- 
quent. 

The English inventions have been, perhaps, more in the 
direction of quality, while the American inventions have been 
along the line of quantity. It is true that the Americans have 
not sacrificed quality, and at times have actually sought it, 
but their object has been primarily to secure quantity. The 
American manufacturer must needs economize in labor, and 
accordingly he has developed machines to that end. He has 
adopted machines suited to the peculiar conditions with which 
he was face to face, especially those which would cut down the 
labor cost. He has adapted them to the production of large 
quantities of standardized patterns. And, further, he has 
developed machines which permit the utilization of the most 
available supply of labor, the unskilled immigrant. It is to 



IOO THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

this development and adaptation, far more than to any protective 
tariff, that the progress of cotton manufacturing in the United 
States during the last half-century has been due. For that 
reason the American cotton manufacturing industry stands on 
a firm foundation at the present time. On a similar adaptation 
its continued prosperity must depend in the future. 



/ 



CHAPTER V 

TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT (CONTINUED) 

Knitting 

The history of machine knitting commences in 1589 with the 
invention of the stocking frame by William Lee, an Englishman. 
One hundred and seventy years later (1758) the first noteworthy 
alteration in that machine was made by Strutt, who adapted 
it to ribbed work. After another uneventful period in its 
history this frame was driven for the first time by power at 
Cohoes, New York, in 1832. 1 Power frames of this type came 
into use in England about ten years later 2 and predominated 
there till after i860. 3 

The second half of the nineteenth century, however, has 
witnessed a complete revolution of knitting technique and a 
change from the household and putting out systems to the 
factory method of production. Two general types of knitting 
machine, flat-bed and circular, have been evolved, and elaborate 
finishing machinery has been invented. Contributions of more 
or less value have been made by inventors so numerous that it 
is impossible to disentangle rival claims. All that is attempted 
here is to indicate the general fines of development and the 
characteristics of the leading systems. 

The problems to which inventors of knitting machinery 
turned their attention were the increase in output and the 
shaping of the fabric. In 1834 an American introduced into 
England a machine of novel design, which made ten to twelve 
hose at once, 4 although each had to be fashioned separately. 

1 8th U. S. Census, " Manufactures," p. xliii. (Nothing had come of patents 
for a power frame taken out by New York and Massachusetts men in 18 13 and 
the following years.) 

2 Ibid., p. xliii. 

3 Wm. Felkin, History of Machine-Wrought Hosiery and Lace, p. 489. 

4 Wm. Felkin, op. cit., p. 543. 



102 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

These frames were expensive and few were installed. Yet by 
1845 stocking frames making two or more legs simultaneously 
had become common in England. 1 In 1836 machines were in use 
in France, on which two, three, or four stockings were knit at 
one time. 2 Thus a large production was being secured. Mean- 
while Barton, in 1838, had devised a means for shifting stitches 
on the needles and shaping the fabric. 3 The epoch-making 
invention of flat-web machinery, however, was the Cotton 
machine. 

The Cotton knitting frame, so called from its inventor, was 
brought out in England in 1864, the first patent having been 
taken out in 185 1. Since that date it has been improved from 
time to time but is still extensively used and remains essentially 
the same in principle. The bed of the frame is flat, and the 
product is a flat web, which can be shaped as desired. " Fash- 
ioning, narrowing, and widening the knitted web is done on these 
machines by transferring the loops from several of the edge 
needles in use onto a separate instrument, moving them one or 
two needle spaces in or out, and then replacing them upon the 
needles." 4 All this is done mechanically. Garments made 
in this way are called " full-fashioned." To finish them, they 
must be sewed or seamed. For underwear a strip is knitted 
twice the desired length of the garment, then folded, and the 
sides seamed. For stockings the shaped legs are knit on one 
machine, then transferred to a second which knits the heels 
and to a third which knits the feet. If there is a ribbed top, 
that is made on still another machine. In making the foot 
there are two methods, the English by which the foot is seamed 
on the sides, and the French, the more common, by which it is 
seamed along the middle of the sole, thus making a continuous 
seam from the top of the leg to the toe. 

These machines are automatic in that one controlling mechan- 
ism regulates the shaping of the garment. This mechanism is 

1 Wm. Felkin, op. cit., p. 489. 

2 A. Mortier, Le Tricot et ITndustrie de la Bonneterie, p. 42. 

3 Wm. Felkin, op. cit., p. 489. 

4 Cyclopedia of Textile Work, vol. v, p. 263. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT IO3 

adjustable, so that the machine can be adapted to knitting 
many patterns. At first each frame consisted of four or six 
beds, but the size has been augmented, till now on the largest 
machines twenty-four stockings may be made at one time. 

The history of circular frames covers a century, but it was 
not till after 1850 that substantial success was achieved. The 
object of these machines was to produce a tubular web. In 
1769 Samuel Wise, an Englishman, experimented with a circular 
knitting frame, 1 and in 18 16 Brunei patented a circular frame. 2 
They were not put into use at that time, however. A circular 
frame, supposed to be of French origin, was introduced into 
America about 1835, 3 while another was invented in France in 
1844, and a third in 1853. 4 These endeavors show the direction 
in which invention was moving. 

About 1844 the Brunei machine of 18 16 was taken up by 
Paget, an English firm of hosiery manufacturers, and after 
modification gained a wide acceptance. 5 Fifteen years later the 
same firm added a narrowing device and adapted it to power. 
The quality of the product was excellent, but the speed was 
slow. Equipped with supplementary improvements, Paget 
machines still have a limited use amongst Continental manu- 
facturers. Another Englishman, Moses Mellor, took up the 
circular machine in 1849 an d made important innovations at 
that and later dates. 6 The French manufacturers also made 
independent contributions. From these sources the machines 
in use at the present time for knitting tubular webs for cut hose, 
and particularly for underwear, were developed. The American 
manufacturers have taken part in the progress 7 and have 
succeeded in making machines which give a much larger output 
than those of purely European origin. 

1 A. Mortier, op. cit., p. 43. 

2 Wm. Felkin, op. cit., p. 490. 

3 8th U. S. Census, " Manufactures," p. xliii. 

4 Models of these machines are to be seen in the " Musee d'Arts et Metiers" 
at Paris. 

6 Wm. Felkin, op. cit., p. 490. 

6 Ibid., p. 511. 

7 W. G. Gist, for instance, increased the number of feeders from one to eight 
in 1858. Wm. Felkin, op. cit., p. 507. 



104 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

It is in stocking machinery than the Americans have made 
the greatest advances. Pepper in 185 i, 1 Aiken in 1855, 2 Ray- 
mond in i860 3 and Lamb in 1867, patented circular knitting 
machines. The Aiken and Lamb machines were most widely 
used, and a few of the latter type are employed in Europe at 
the present day. On these machines, as well as on the English 
Griswold frame, the mechanism for shaping the stocking was 
controlled by hand, even when the machine was run by power. 
Nevertheless they were the fastest producers brought out up 
to that time. 

In 1867 came the first of a series of inventions by J. L. Branson 
and his son, E. R. Branson, of Philadelphia. Their efforts 
culminated in 1889 in the production of a completely automatic 
seamless knitting machine, which made circular and self-recipro- 
cating motions, carried half of the needles out of action before 
commencing the heel and toe, narrowed and widened in heel 
and toe by throwing needles into and out of action, and auto- 
matically inserted an extra or splicing yarn to reinforce the 
heel and toe. Other types of automatic seamless knitting 
machines, varying more or less in detail, appeared about the 
same time, or soon after 1890, and during the last twenty years 
these have been constantly improved and supplemented. 

In regard to these automatic seamless machines the Cyclopedia 
of Textile Work states that " full-automatics may run continu- 
ously on women's goods, passing from stocking to stocking 
without assistance from the operator. In making half -hose or 
socks the machines are automatic to a like degree, except that 
they must be stopped at the end of each article, so that another 
cylinder may be introduced with the rib top on the needles." 4 
The number of wales remains the same throughout the garment 
produced on this machine, but the ankle for hose is made smaller 
by drawing shorter stitches. For half-hose there is no alteration 
in tension. Very recently a device has been invented for auto- 

1 nth U. S. Census, vol. vi, p. 65. 

2 8th U. S. Census, " Manufactures," p. xliii. 

3 Wm. Felkin, op. cit., p. 543. 

4 Cyclopedia of Textile Work, vol. v, p. 188. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 105 

matically lessening the number of stitches at the ankle, in that 
way eliminating the inelasticity caused by shortening the loops. 
Another recent invention is an arrangement whereby the rib 
top and the plain web for seamless half-hose can be knit upon 
the same machine without changing cylinders. The commercial 
success of these two innovations would give additional advantage 
to the seamless machine. 

The progress of the seamless machine has also been promoted 
by several subsidiary inventions. The latch needle, invented 
about 1856, was the first of these. The eye of this needle is 
closed by a little latch, instead of being pressed together like the 
spring-beard needle. A hole detector was another invention 
of vital importance. That appliance stops the cylinder whenever 
a hole appears in the web and thus prevents bad work and pos- 
sibly injury to the machine. 

The two types of knitting machine, the flat-bed and the 
circular, are quite different in their operation. The circular 
machines used in knitting underwear produce a web of uniform 
diameter. On these machines either spring or latch needles 
may be used, but the speed is higher on the circular machine 
than on the Cotton frame, and inasmuch as one operative tends 
about as many of the former as there are heads on one of the 
latter, the output per laborer is greater with the circular frame. 
Moreover if the body of the shirt is not cut to the exact shape 
of the human form but remains seamless, the expense of making 
up is less for the circular goods, and in any case it will be no 
greater than for the full-fashioned. On the other hand, the 
full-fashioned underwear is more elastic and of rather better 
quality. 

The differences between the full-fashioned machines and the 
seamless machines x employed for knitting stockings are equally 
significant. Latch needles are almost always used on this class 
of seamless machines, whereas the Cotton frame has spring 
needles. The latch needles can be run at a higher speed, but 

1 Formerly large quantities of cut hose were made from the uniform tubular 
web, but that method has been practically abandoned, since the product was 
inferior to the full-fashioned goods and those shaped on the new circular frames. 



I06 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

the product is less elastic. The automatic action of the seamless 
frame enables one operative to tend several heads, just as on 
the Cotton machine several stocking blanks are knit at once 
on each machine, — a point of similarity. But the greater 
speed of the seamless machine results in greater product per 
operative, and the operative, who is usually a girl or woman 
instead of a man as on the Cotton frame, need not be possessed 
of as great skill and experience. Less labor of a cheaper grade 
is required to turn out the seamless stockings. 

The transferring of the stocking from the legger to the heeler, 
and then to the footer, as is necessary for the full-fashioned 
goods, takes time and labor; the seamless machine runs on 
continuously. Again, the full-fashioned stocking requires more 
making up, since the leg and foot must be seamed, whereas the 
only seaming on the seamless hose is the closing of the short 
hole across the toe where the stockings are cut apart. More 
boarding and pressing are necessary to give the seamless goods 
their proper shape, but this is a comparatively slight expense 
and does not go far toward counterbalancing the higher labor 
cost of full-fashioned goods. 

Although the seamless stockings cost less to manufacture, it 
is possible that they are not of as high quality. They are less 
elastic than the full-fashioned stockings, not only because of the 
use of latch needles instead of spring needles, but also on account 
of the method of narrowing the leg (for hose) by shortening the 
loops. Yet the less elastic texture of the seamless stocking is 
offset, partially at least, by the disadvantage of the seam under- 
neath or along the sides of the foot of the full-fashioned stocking. 
The seamless machine, finally, is better adapted to coarse work 
than fine work, and to plain work than fancy work; but its field 
is constantly being extended and the quality of the product 
improved. 

The majority of the knitting machines employed in the knit- 
goods industry in the United States are of the circular latch-needle 
type. The total number of knitting machines of all kinds as 
given by the Census in 1870 was 5,625; 1880, 12,659; 1890, 
36,327; 1900, 69,047; and in 1905, 88,374. Previous to 1900 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT 107 

the Census did not separate the different types, but the follow- 
ing table shows the predominance of the circular latch-needle 
machine in 1900 and 1905. 

Number of Knitting Machines in the United States x 

Flat 

1900 1905 

Spring needle 4,257 3,666 

Latch needle 4,818 6,840 

Total 9,075 10,506 

Circular 

Spring needle 9,920 9,898 

Latch needle 44,183 61,472 

Total 54,103 7i,37o 

Hand 2 5,809 6,498 

These statistics include machines at work upon wool and silk 
as well as those upon cotton, but the volume of the cotton knit- 
goods products is by far the largest. 3 Another qualification of 
these figures, though by no means invalidating them, is their 
incompleteness. " It should be understood that the actual 
number of knitting machines is larger than that stated, inas- 
much as the important machines only are counted. For whereas 
but one machine is required, ordinarily, for knitting hose, several 
machines are needed to produce a single article of some classes 
of underwear. The number stated is, therefore, in the case of 
underwear, the number of body machines; and those which are 
used to knit sleeves, wrists, ankles, and other parts of the gar- 
ments are not counted." 4 

The predominance of the circular latch-needle machine, the 
seamless automatic, in this country is due to its larger produc- 
tivity and greater simplicity of operation. It has enabled the 
American manufacturers to reduce the cost of knitting and in 
that way has stimulated the growth of a large factory industry. 

1 U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 74, p. 75. 

2 These hand frames were employed for knitting specialties, such as mittens. 

3 U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 74, p. 77. 

4 Ibid., p. 75. 



108 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The English manufacturers have kept a much larger proportion 
of the Cotton machines in operation, particularly for the manu- 
facture of stockings. Many circular spring-needle machines 
are employed in England for knitting underwear but the number 
of seamless stocking frames is relatively small. 1 Several hun- 
dred hand frames, also, are still operated in the Nottingham 
district in the manufacture of high grade cotton and lisle stock- 
ings. The stockings knit on the hand frame are even more 
elastic than the full-fashioned goods. Although the cost of manu- 
facturing is about twice as great for the hand-made goods as 
for the full-fashioned, and for the latter about twice as high as 
for the seamless, the demand for hand-made goods induces the 
manufacturers to keep up the production. In the United States 
the difference in cost is so great as to prevent the use of the 
hand frame for any purpose except the manufacture of specialties 
such as mittens, and the employment of the Cotton machine is 
restricted for the same reason. 

In Germany many types of knitting machines are employed, 
from the hand frame to the circular automatic. The number of 
hand machines is not small, and other machines of a laborious 
sort, such as the Paget, are used. American knitting machines 
are relatively scarce in that country. For manufacturing under- 
wear the circular frame is most common, and in hosiery factories 
the Cotton frame predominates. The Chemnitz manufacturers, 
in fact, have been the most progressive in improving the Cotton 
machine during the last thirty years. 

As might be judged from what has just been said, the American 
manufacturers produce large quantities of relatively few patterns, 
the Germans smaller lots of diverse structure. Both adapt 
their methods to labor conditions. 

All knit goods require some making up, and for this purpose 
special machines have been introduced. The tops of seamless 
hose are hemmed on a sewing machine, and the toe is seamed on 
a looper. A single machine suffices for seaming the full-fashioned 
stockings. Hence the task of finishing stockings is quite simple, 
far simpler than the making up of underwear. 

1 Part of those which have been installed are of American manufacture. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT IO9 

The processes in the finishing of underwear are numerous, 
and vary according to the kind of knitting machine employed. 
For a shirt made on a Cotton frame the strip (twice the length 
of the body) is folded over and the sides sewed together, spaces 
being left unstitched for the insertion of the sleeves which are 
made on a separate machine. But the tubular web from the 
circular machine, if it is to be shaped to fit the body, must be 
cut. This is usually done by hand, although the largest and best 
equipped mills employ a cutting machine driven by electricity 
or other power. After the bodies are cut they are seamed in 
the same way as the full-fashioned web. 

From this point on the processes are the same for full-fashioned 
and cut or uncut goods, the garment travelling rapidly from hand 
to hand. Almost every operation is performed with the aid of 
machinery, in many cases of specialized design. Loopers loop 
on the cuffs to the sleeves and the rib tails to the bottoms of the 
shirts. The sleeves are sewed up and joined to the bodies. 
The neck flaps are cut and sewed down, the fronts marked and 
cut for button stays and button hole facings, the facings stitched 
on and the flaps covered. The button holes are spaced and made, 
and a button sewing machine sews on the buttons and trims off 
the threads. Finally inspectors and menders examine the 
garments, after which they are pressed, sorted, and marked 
according to sizes, and packed. In nearly all of these operations 
the machines are run by girls, whose nimble fingers acquire 
great dexterity. 

In the development of machines for making up knit goods 
the American manufacturers have taken a prominent part. 
To be sure some machines, as for example the looper, have been 
introduced from England, but the American contributions 
have been more numerous and more important. As a conse- 
quence of this leadership a large number of American-made 
machines are now in use in Europe. Among the American 
inventions should be mentioned " the special stitching and 
covering machines of the Union Special Machine Company and 
the Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Company, the button 
sewing and button hole machines of the Singer Sewing Machine 



IIO THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Company, and the edging machine of the Merrow Machine 
Company." x One of these machines stands out preeminently, 
the Overlock sewing machine invented by Messrs. Borton and 
Willcox, and placed upon the market in the United States 
in 1890. 2 Since its introduction here it has also been widely 
adopted abroad for nnishing knit goods. It trims, seams, 
and over-edges the fabric in one operation, and runs at a high 
rate of speed, over 3,000 stitches per minute. This is but 
one of a number of important inventions which have been made 
during the last thirty years, particularly since 1890. The state- 
ment in the Census report of 1890 that, " for many products 
of machine-knit goods, a large proportion of the work must be 
done by hand, connected with the nnishing of the goods," 3 
would not hold true today. 

This series of inventions, which accompanied the development 
of knitting machines, was not a mere coincidence. With the 
improvements in the knitting machines and the increasing scale 
of production and standardization of product, the need of labor 
saving devices for nnishing the goods was more and more felt. 
As a result the perfection of the knitting machine was closely 
followed by the introduction of these supplementary machines, 
which in turn aided in the development of the factory system 
and large scale production. They manifest to a high degree 
that fundamental characteristic of the factory system, the 
minute sub-division of labor. Furthermore they have not 
only substituted machinery for hand labor, but the operative 
can learn to perform the work on a machine much more quickly 
than she can learn to do it by hand; hence less skilled labor 
may be employed, as is indicated by the predominance of immi- 
grant girls in our knitting mills. 

Thus during the last fifty years the knit-goods industry has 
been revolutionized, and in this transformation the American 
manufacturers have introduced machines which were adapted 

1 R. W. Scott, Evolution of the Knit Goods Industry, p. 4. 

2 A description and history of the machine is given in the Textile Manufacturers* 
Journal, October 31, 1908, p. 11. 

3 nth U. S. Census, vol. vi, p. 66. 



TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT III 

to their own peculiar needs. On this basis they have established 
a large and expanding industry. It has been pointed out that 
the improvements in technique progressed gradually until they 
culminated about 1890 in the fully automatic seamless knitting 
machine and the specialized machines for finishing the goods. 
Coinciding as it did with this culmination, the highly protective 
tariff of 1890 has received too great credit for the rapid growth 
of the industry during the last twenty years. The increase in 
tariff duties during the period of the Civil War very likely 
stimulated the growth of the industry for which the foundations 
had already been laid; but to emphasize too strongly the effects 
of the McKinley Tariff or of its successors is to overlook the part 
which has been played by American inventive genius. 



CHAPTER VI 

LABOR 

Employees 

While the output per machine and per laborer has been 
augmented during the last five decades by means of technical 
improvements in cotton manufacturing, the labor force itself 
has assumed new characteristics. The sex and age composition 
is not the same at the present time as in i860, and in New Eng- 
land the foreign element, which had appeared in the 'forties 
and 'fifties, has become predominant. In the cotton industry, 
moreover, as well as in other industries, labor unions have been 
organized, and strikes and lockouts have occurred. 

The numbers of men, women, and children employed in cotton 
mills, as shown by the Census, have increased, but the proportion 
in each group has not remained constant. 

Average Number of Employees in American Cotton Mills 1 

Men Women Children Total 

1870 42,790 69,637 22,942 135,369 

1880 59,685 84,539 28,320 172,544 

1890 88,837 106,607 23,432 218,876 

1900 134,354 123,709 39,866 297,929 

1905 I45,7i8 124,711 40,029 310,458 

1910 190,531 141,728 38,861 371,120 

In compiling these tables all males over sixteen years of age 
were classed as men, all females over sixteen as women, and all 
persons under sixteen as children. The data were collected 
from the manufacturers and doubtless contain many inaccuracies, 
of which it is not possible to determine the extent. The statistics 
for the later years are the more accurate, as the Census improved 
its methods and the manufacturers became more accustomed 
to furnishing such information. 

1 U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 74, p. 39. 



LABOR 113 

For purposes of comparison the relative numbers in each 
class are also to be considered; hence a table of percentages is 
presented. 

Percentage of the Average Number of Employees 

Men Women Children 

1870 3i-5 51-4 i7-i 

1880 34.6 49.0 16.4 

1890 40.6 48.7 10.7 

1900 4S-i 4i-5 13-4 

1905 46.9 40.2 12.9 

1910 51.3 38.2 10.5 

The first table shows that the number of men has increased 
absolutely; the second indicates a relative advance for that 
class. This tendency to employ a larger proportion of men 
has been apparent since 1870. Although the absolute num- 
ber of women shows an increase, the percentage has steadily 
declined. There has not been an actual replacement of women 
by men, inasmuch as the number of women has not diminished, 
but with the expansion of the industry men have obtained a 
larger share of the work in departments where women are 
employed. 

The proportion of children has fluctuated but is now lower 
than at any time since the close of the Civil War. The reaction 
which appeared after 1890 was the result of conditions in the 
southern states. In New England the number of children 
employed actually declined, falling from 17,704 in 1880 to 9,385 
in 1905. l They constituted 14. 1 per cent in 1880 and only 6 
per cent of the total in 1905. In the South the tendency was the 
reverse; the number was 4,097 in 1880 and 27,571 in 1905. 
The greatest increase in that section was manifested between 
1890 and 1900, from 8,815 to 24,438. But even in the southern 
states there has been a slight relative decline, from 25.1 per cent 
in 1880 to 22.9 per cent in 1905. However, as there has been 
little restriction on the employment of children in the South, 
and no adequate factory inspection, these figures may consider- 

1 The detailed statistics for the different sections in 1910 have not yet been 
published. 



114 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

ably underestimate the facts. In those states children have been 
employed to do work performed by women in northern mills; 
in 1905 only 31.6 per cent of the employees in southern mills 
were women in contrast to 45 per cent in New England. The 
proportions of men at the same date were nearly equal in both 
sections, 45.5 per cent in the South and 49 per cent in New Eng- 
land. Thus a certain proportion of light work in a cotton mill, 
wherever located, falls to the share of women and children. 

Considering the men on the one hand, and women and children 
on the other, the former class of cotton mill employees has 
increased at the faster rate. This has been occasioned in part 
by the larger available supply of men. In the South, where 
the men have increased from 28.4 per cent of the total number 
of employees in 1880 to 45.5 per cent in 1905, the boys and young 
men who entered the mills twenty or thirty years ago have 
remained and have been recruited, whereas at the outset the 
older men were not easily adaptable to the needs of the factory 
system. In New England the increased supply of adult male 
labor has come from the stream of immigrants, a source whence 
the cotton manufacturers could draw large numbers of men 
willing to work for comparatively low wages. 

Secondly, and even more fundamentally, the demands imposed 
by technical changes have called for more male labor. The 
machinery has become heavier and is run at a higher speed, 
thus requiring greater muscular exertion and causing a more 
intense nervous strain on the operatives. The departments 
especially affected have been roving and weaving. The fly- 
frames are longer, with the result that men have been advan- 
tageously employed to tend them. A male weaver, similarly, 
can take care of more plain looms than a woman, and for the 
Northrop loom, in particular, male weavers are preferred. 
Although the men earn more than the women, the piece rates 
paid the former are the same or lower. 

The restrictions upon the employment of women and children 
have become more stringent, but the noticeable increase in the 
proportion of men among the employees in southern mills, where 
there have been almost no restrictions until recently, indicates 



LABOR IIS 

that factory legislation has been a secondary cause. In fact 
it may be that it became easier to pass the laws when the em- 
ployers began to perceive that they would not be seriously 
handicapped by such enactments. 

The various states have not imposed uniform restrictions on 
age or hours of labor, nor have they the same provisions for 
inspection. 1 In Massachusetts no child under fourteen may be 
employed in cotton mills, and the enforcement of the law by 
the factory inspectors has kept the proportion of children to 
the total number of employees lower in Massachusetts than in 
any of the other large cotton manufacturing states. Neverthe- 
less the conditions in several Massachusetts mills are said to be 
wretched. Rhode Island, also, has had fourteen years as the 
minimum age for employment since 1906, but there, according 
to Mr. Towles, who has made a special study of labor conditions 
in that state, " the child labor law is not rigidly enforced " 
though the violations are not flagrant. 2 Maine, similarly, has 
since 1907 required that all children should be fourteen years of 
age before entering the mills, but, in the past at least, has been 
rather lax in enforcing its labor laws. 3 New Hampshire permits 
children twelve years old to be employed when schools are not 
in session, but with that exception prohibits the employment of 
all under fourteen and also those under sixteen who are not 
able to read and write English. Likewise in Connecticut and 
Pennsylvania fourteen years is the minimum age limit. 

In the South restriction upon child labor is of very recent 
origin. The four important cotton manufacturing states in 
that section have, within the last six or seven years, adopted 
twelve years as the minimum age at which children may be 

1 U. S. Commissioner of Labor, 226I Annual Report, 1907, Labor Laws of the 
United States. 

2 J. K. Towles, Factory Legislation of Rhode Island, p. 56. 

3 The recent investigation of the conditions of woman and child labor by the 
Department of Commerce and Labor indicated an extensive violation of the Maine 
law restricting the employment of children in cotton mills. Rhode Island also 
showed numerous infringements of the age limit. U. S. Commissioner of Labor, 
Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage-Earners in the U. S., vol. i, 
pp. 150 ff. 



Il6 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

employed, with particular qualifications and modifications in 
each state. The additional provision in North Carolina is that 
no child from twelve to thirteen years of age may be employed 
in a factory except in an apprenticeship capacity, and then 
only after having attended school for four of the preceding 
twelve months. Alabama requires that children from twelve 
to sixteen years of age shall attend school eight weeks out of 
the year, and for the enforcement of its laws has created the 
office of " Inspector of Jails, Aims-Houses, and Cotton Mills." 
In South Carolina any child may be employed during the months 
of June, July, and August, providing he or she can read and write 
and has attended school for four months during the preceding 
year. In that state, however, the twelve year limit does not 
apply to orphans and children of widowed mothers or disabled 
fathers. Georgia makes the same exception for orphans and 
so forth, but requires that child operatives under fourteen shall 
be able to read and write. 

In none of the southern states is the system of inspection 
as efficient as in Massachusetts and some of the other northern 
states, and ordinarily the evidence of age required is merely a 
signed statement from the parents or guardian. The evils are 
slowly being mitigated, yet the laws are flagrantly violated, 
particularly in North and South Carolina. 1 

The hours of labor, similarly, are more restricted in the north- 
ern states. No child under eighteen years of age nor any woman 
may be employed in Massachusetts for more than fifty-four 
hours per week, and night work for these classes is also forbidden. 
New Hampshire protects the same classes from night work, 
but permits them to work fifty-eight hours per week. In 
Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut the hours for persons 
under sixteen and for women are limited to fifty-eight per week, 
and night work is prohibited. In Pennsylvania no child under 
eighteen and no woman may be employed in a cotton mill 
more than sixty hours per week or twelve per day, and night 
work for all under sixteen is illegal. 

1 U. S. Commissioner of Labor, op. ciL, pp. 171 ff. 



LABOR 117 

Of the southern states in which cotton is manufactured 
Alabama has the most stringent regulations of hours of labor 
and night work. In that state children from twelve to fourteen 
are to be employed not more than sixty hours per week; those 
under sixteen are not to work at night; and those from sixteen 
to eighteen are not to be employed more than eight hours per 
night. South Carolina limits the hours for all cotton mill em- 
ployees to ten per day and sixty per week, and since 1903 has 
not allowed children under twelve to work at night. North 
Carolina prohibits children under eighteen from working more 
than sixty-six hours per week, and those under fourteen from 
working at night. Georgia, also, has a sixty-six hour law, 
and forbids nocturnal employment of those under fourteen. 
These restrictions by the southern states are but a beginning, 
and very likely before this appears in print will have been 
extended. 

In all parts of the country, when reformers have sought to 
introduce restrictions on the employment of children, they 
have met with opposition from the laborers themselves. The 
foreigners in New England have wished to procure places for 
their young children, and in the South the manufacturers have 
had to meet the demands that work be given to all the members 
of the families. The ignorance of many parents has been an 
obstacle to the complete restriction of the employment of young 
children. The fathers and mothers fail to see that this infringe- 
ment of their liberty is ultimately to benefit their children. 

The manufacturers are gradually discovering that they gain 
little by employing young children. In many Massachusetts 
mills one sees relatively few children at the present time. They 
are likely to be conspicuously absent in a fine cloth mill, whereas 
they are most in evidence in a print cloth mill or other factory 
manufacturing coarse fabrics. In order to secure the best results 
where particular attention is given to quality, the managers have 
found child labor 'undesirable. The higher the grade of work, 
the fewer the children. This is true in the South as well as the 
North. 



Il8 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The most important change which has taken place on the side 
of labor in the New England mills has been the influx of foreign- 
ers. The change commenced about ten years before the Civil 
War, when the Irish began to supplant the native workmen. 
During the war many of the laborers were called to arms, and 
most of the remainder thrown out of work. When the mills 
resumed full-time operations, the native employees did not 
return. The majority of the cotton mill operatives were foreign- 
ers or of foreign parentage, the Irish at first predominating. 
At the same time a considerable number of English added them- 
selves to the labor force of the New England mills. During 
the 'seventies the French Canadians made their appearance, 
and for two decades many of them crossed the border from 
Quebec. As soon as that current ceased, a stream of Poles, 
Portuguese, Greeks, and other south Europeans headed its way 
toward the cotton mills of New England. Thus there was a 
constantly augmented supply of cheap, unskilled labor, which 
the manufacturers devised means of utilizing. 

The Census has attempted since 1870 to record the nationali- 
ties of employees, and the statistics indicate the prevalence of 
the foreign element. 

Nationality or Cotton Mill Employees 

Percentages 
Born in 1870 1880 1890 1900 1 1870 1880 1890 1900 

United States 7*7547 94,°io 90,494110,220 64.1 55.4 52.6 44.7 

British America 7,683 36,385 40,690 62,591 6.9 21.4 23.7 25.5 

Ireland 18,713 19,732 16,396 28,573 16.8 11.6 9.5 11.6 

Great Britain 11,805 16,237 17,131 19,269 10.6 9.6 9.9 7.8 

Germany 1,214 1,988 3,763 6,063 1.1 1.2 2.2 2.5 

All other 644 1,419 3,587 19,675 0.5 0.8 2.1 7.9 

Total (occupation 

statistics) 111,606 169,771 172,061 246,391 100 100 100 100 

Manufacturers' re- 
turns, total 135,369 174,659 218,876 297,929 

The second line of totals states the figures given by the manu- 
facturers for the average number of persons employed, whereas 

1 The figures for 1900 are for the place of birth of parents, the others for place 
of birth of the operatives themselves. 



LABOR 119 

the detailed statistics are from the Census volume on Occupa- 
tions. It is evident from comparison that the occupation 
statistics, which were collected from the employees themselves, 
were inaccurate and far from complete. A large number were 
returned under " Textile Mills not otherwise specified." But 
inasmuch as that indefinite group showed about the same percent- 
ages, the proportions indicated in the table above are not far 
wrong. The value of all comparisons, however, is lessened by the 
greater inaccuracy of the returns for 1890 and 1900. 1 Beside 
this difficulty there is yet another disturbing discrepancy. In 
1900 the figures are for parentage, not for nationality. 2 Hence 
they cannot be compared with those for earlier years. Probably 
the classification according to the place of birth of parents is a 
better index to the prevalence of the foreign element than the 
classification according to the place of birth of the employees 
themselves, but for the purposes of comparison consistency is 
the first requirement. With these qualifications in mind, let 
us consider the composition of this cosmopolitan personnel at 
the various dates. 

In 1870 the Irish predominated among the foreign born em- 
ployees in our cotton mills, and the number has remained about 
the same although the proportion has declined. The number 
of English and Scotch, likewise, has not manifested much change; 
the outflow and inflow have balanced. The Irish and partic- 
ularly the British operatives, however, have moved upward 
in the scale of employment within the mills. Nearly all of the 
English are mule spinners, weavers, slasher tenders, or overseers. 

The comparatively small French Canadian element of 1870 
expanded rapidly during the next ten years, and since 1880 

1 The greater inaccuracy has been a result largely of the increase in the number 
of non-English-speaking foreigners since 1880. In the New England States and 
Pennsylvania, where the foreign element predominates, the proportion of workmen 
returned as employed in "textile mills not otherwise specified " was much greater 
than in the South. And the indefinite returns were greater for foreign born than 
for native born, with the exception of Pennsylvania where the returns were indefi- 
nite for three-fourths of both native and foreign born. 12th U. S. Census, 
" Occupations." 

2 The Census of 1890 also classed the operatives according to birthplace of 
mothers, but those figures are not comparable with any of the others. 



120 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

has far out-numbered any of the other foreign nationalities. 1 
When the French Canadians first arrived, they were regarded 
with hostility since they were not easily assimilated and fre- 
quently made but a brief sojourn before returning to Quebec 
with their savings. However, the majority of those who came 
have ultimately settled in New England and become a permanent 
factor in the labor supply of the cotton mills. Since 1890 the 
immigration of French Canadians has declined, and new-comers 
of that nationality are not numerous at the present time. 
The return movement has also practically ceased. The French 
Canadian population grows rapidly, nevertheless, since they 
are a very prolific race, and their large families provide many 
operatives. 

The French Canadians are not without their peculiar charac- 
teristics. They intermarry with other nationalities less fre- 
quently than almost any other race which has been brought 
under the same influences. They are devoutly religious and their 
religion has been the chief bond which has held them together 
in the New England cities and prevented a fusion with other 
nationalities. They are considered very desirable " help " 
by the employers, inasmuch as they are generally docile and do 
not make trouble. They do not object to long hours nor dis- 
approve of their children's working in the mills. Moreover, 
they generally look with disfavor upon strikes which interrupt 
their labor and lighten the pay envelope. This attitude toward 
strikes was one reason which caused the other operatives to dislike 
them, especially at first when they were not so numerous. These 
French Canadians are employed in work of all degrees of skill, — 
in the preparatory processes, in ring spinning, and in weaving. 
Some who have been in the mills longest have assumed respon- 
sible positions. 

The unskilled labor has, during the last two decades, fallen 
more and more into the hands of newly-arrived Europeans, — 
a conglomeration of Poles, Portuguese, Greeks, Syrians, Italians, 

1 In the table the English Canadians are included under the same heading as 
the French, for the sake of securing comparability, but their number has been so 
small as to be practically negligible, 3,113 out of 62,591 in 1900. 



LABOR 121 

and others. They have taken up the heavier and more dis- 
agreeable work, for which little experience is necessary, and 
which is the more poorly paid. In the picker room, the card 
room, and to some extent in the ring-spinning room, they have 
made their appearance. For illustration, in a Lowell mill a few 
years ago foreigners of this class were distributed as follows: 1 

Total 
Employees Poles Portuguese Greeks Other 

Picker Room 33 10 ... 11 12 

Card 101 38 ... 41 22 

Carding and Picking 137 75 .... ... 62 

Roving hands 118 43 ... ... 75 

Spinning 564 30 ... 167 367 

Dressing 174 . . ... ... 174 

Weaving 625 99 85 ... 441 

In this instance the slasher room was the only department into 
which these unskilled workmen had not entered. In all of the 
others they had found some tasks suited to their untrained 
hands, although not to the same proportion in each. For these 
racial conglomerations the notices in each mill have to be printed 
in three or four languages. 

Each nationality is sprinkled over the New England cotton 
manufacturing district, but more densely at certain points. 
The Irish and the French Canadians are fairly evenly distribu- 
ted. The English are more numerous in southern New England 
owing to the superior opportunities for them in the fine goods 
mills. The Portuguese may have hit upon New Bedford, the 
cotton manufacturing city in which they are found in largest 
numbers, because of their previous connection with the whaling 
industry. The Greeks have been attracted to Lowell, and 
the Syrians to Lawrence. 

At the present time there are very few foreigners in the mills 
of the southern states, and the large number of native born in 
that section accounts for a majority of the native born in the 
table given above. In an average New England mill, in contrast, 
there is a conspicuous scarcity of " Yankees." 

1 Mass. Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Bulletin No. 41, p. 199. 



122 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

A majority of the knitting mill operatives have also been 
drawn from the immigrant population. The Irish, Germans, 
and French Canadians are the most numerous. The numbers 
of foreign born in 1880 and 1890, and of foreign parentage in 
1900 were as follows: — 

Knitting Mill Operatives 

1880 1890 1900 1880 1890 1900 

Birthplace Birthplace Parentage Percentages 

Native 9,774 22,882 21,381 80.1 77.3 45-4 

Irish 610 1,236 7,460 5.0 4.2 15.8 

German 387 1,213 6,046 3.2 4.1 12. 9 

Canadian 428 i,793 4,7©7 3.5 6.1 10.0 

British 871 1,569 2,767 7.1 5.3 5.8. 

Polish 801 0.0 0.0 1.8 

Other 124 862 3*958 1.1 3.0 8.3 

Total 12,194 29,555 47>i20 100 100 100 

The native employees are distributed in the southern and 
western states, whereas the foreigners are to be found chiefly in 
the larger mills of the northeastern section of the country. The 
employment of a larger proportion of foreigners since 1880 
reflects the adoption of the new types of machinery. 

The immigrants have been a very potent factor in the progress 
of the cotton manufacturing industry, just as in many other 
industries which have enjoyed a rapid growth since i860. The 
same characteristic is to be observed in the mining industry, 
the tin-plate industry, the meat-packing industry, and others. 
The immigrants have furnished a supply of unskilled workmen 
for the manufacturers, who have not feared the " pauper labor " 
of Europe when it came to our own shores. They have expanded 
their business on the basis of this very labor all the while that 
they have been demanding protection for the " American 
laborer.'* These foreigners were the workmen that the manu- 
facturers must have had in mind when they were advocating 
protection. They claim to protect the standard of living of 
this class, many of whom had been in the country but a short 
time. To be sure it is highly desirable that the standard of 
living of this class be maintained, and fully as desirable that it 



LABOR 123 

be raised. Nevertheless, the importation of laborers seems to 
be a greater menace to those already in the country than the 
importation of products made abroad. The discussion of the 
tariff, however, is best reserved till later. 

Labor Unions 

The presence of so many foreigners in our cotton mills has 
hindered the formation of labor unions in this trade. Although 
local textile unions have existed in the past, it is only within 
the last few years that there has been a national association. 
A history of labor unions in the American cotton industry, 
therefore, would be an account of the local unions that have 
appeared from time to time. To unravel that tale is a task 
that could not be undertaken at this point, and I shall give 
merely a few of the more pregnant facts. 

The mule spinners' unions have always been the strongest 
among those in the cotton industry. The Mule Spinners' 
Union of Fall River was organized in 1858, and from that date 
until 1889 experienced a rather precarious life. At times strong, 
at other periods it temporarily passed out of existence after a 
particularly unsuccessful strike. However the mule spinners 
kept alive the union spirit amongst the cotton mill employees, 
and gained for themselves the reputation of being the most 
troublesome class of employees. The strength of their union 
resulted partly from the absence of women in their occupation, 
but more particularly because of the high degree of skill required. 
Other workmen could not easily be substituted for mule spinners. 
Moreover these workmen have, on the average, been superior 
to the other operatives in intelligence, and therefore keener 
for advancement. They better appreciated the advantages of 
combining to promote their own interests. 

A national organization was formed in 1889, the National 
Cotton Mule Spinners' Association of America, and since that 
date practically all of the mule spinners in the country have 
become members. Yet the union has gained little in power. 
The number of mule spindles has remained nearly stationary 
and the manufacturers are no longer dependent upon the mule 



124 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

spinners in order to keep their mills in operation. Formerly, 
when mule-spun yarn was required, even if only for the weft, 
a strike of the mule spinners could force the closing of an entire 
plant. But the extension of the use of the ring-frame has 
relieved the manufacturers, since for its operation easily replaced 
labor could be employed. The combination of the ring-frame and 
the immigrant has weakened the mule spinners' organization. 

The loom fixers and slasher tenders have also made loyal 
union members. Like the mule spinners they are possessed 
of more than ordinary skill and new workmen cannot readily 
be trained to take their places. However, they are not numerous, 
a circumstance which facilitates the settlement of disputes. 
They are not the ones whom the manufacturers would seek to 
oppress, nor are they likely to make exorbitant demands upon 
their employers. Although these workmen have a strong strate- 
gical position, they seldom have undertaken to dictate in the 
interests of the great mass of their fellow employees. 

In the late 'eighties and during the 'nineties other unions 
were formed in Fall River, and some are still alive. In other cotton 
manufacturing centres, also, unions have been organized from 
time to time, but nowhere have they been strong enough to secure 
many permanent concessions from their employers. 

The organization of the United Textile Workers of America 
was effected in 1901, to include all the textile operatives in the 
country. In January, 1909, it had a membership of 154 local 
unions. The experience of this association well illustrates the 
obstacles to a thorough-going organization of American cotton 
mill operatives. Some unions have joined and then dropped out. 
Others have been formed, entered the association, and then 
expired. Great difficulty has been experienced in persuading the 
local unions to levy assessments large enough to give the associa- 
tion a suitable working fund. Jealousies among the union leaders 
have resulted in dissension and frequently in desertion. The 
strength which this national organization possesses is largely the 
result of the efficiency of the officers who have been at its head. 

Throughout the history of cotton mill unions, leadership has 
been of primary importance. Among the local unions which have 



LABOR 125 

come, and in many instances gone, since 1875, each union has 
usually been weak or powerful, according to whether or not it 
had a good leader. A union has been in a way a combination 
of the followers of a certain man. A leader with good organizing 
ability could form a union which would follow his advice on all 
matters. Occasionally, it is to be regretted, the leader has used 
his influence to further personal ends, to the detriment of the 
interests of those whom he represented. 

A strong union spirit, therefore, has not been manifest among 
the cotton mill employees, except in rare instances. The great 
mass of operatives have not yet come to appreciate the benefits 
accruing from united action at all times. When anything has 
occurred to cause wide-spread dissatisfaction, they have joined 
in a strike whether or not affiliated with the unions, and in 
troublous times unions in certain localities have secured large 
additions to their membership. But as soon as the dispute 
was settled, the union was deserted, and a period of disorgan- 
ization followed. One element of weakness has been the 
employment of so many women and children in the cotton 
mills. The women join in the strikes about as readily as the 
men, but they are seldom constant supporters of the union 
cause. Women, however, are employed in the cotton factories 
of England, where there are vigorous labor unions. Hence 
their presence is not the chief obstacle. 

It is, above all, the continual inflow of foreigners which has 
sapped the strength of the union movement in the New England 
factories. The congregation of so many languages and dialects 
in a single industry, to say nothing of a single mill, has embar- 
rassed communication and the formation of mutual agreements. 
Racial antagonism, also, has not been absent. Moreover the 
immigrant seeking employment has cared little where or how he 
secured it, and has had no scruples against taking the place of 
strikers. He has also desired continuous employment, so that 
anything which cut into his income has been obnoxious to him. 
Inasmuch as there have been no strong affiliations of workmen 
throughout the cotton manufacturing district, there has been 
nothing to hinder the gradual migration of workmen from 
place to place at the time of a strike. 



126 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Strikers' places were filled by outsiders in Fall River as early 
as 1850, when a six months' strike was broken by the introduction 
of workmen from other places. 1 Again, in 1867 new operatives 
were substituted for Lawrence strikers. 2 In regard to a strike 
at the Waltham Bleachery in 1874, it was said that " the manu- 
facturers were not unwilling to make a complete change of 
help," and after the settlement less than one- third of the former 
employees were taken back. 3 French Canadian " knobsticks " 
were brought to Fall River in 1879 to take the place of strikers. 4 
These instances indicate the part that the immigrant has played 
in supplying the manufacturers with fresh workmen when 
occasion required. The readiness with which new operatives 
could be secured enabled the employers to withstand the demands 
made upon them by their employees. But the operatives 
who were replaced generally had little difficulty in obtaining 
new positions. Soon after a strike commenced, the operatives 
would drift away to other cities, and if the dispute were not 
settled immediately the number who migrated was usually 
not inconsiderable. 

The statistics given in the Twenty-first Annual Report of 
the United States Commissioner of Labor emphasize the ill- 
success of strikes in the American cotton manufacturing industry. 
During the period from 1881 to 1905 there were 665 strikes and 
lockouts in that industry, affecting 832 establishments. In 
153 of these establishments the workmen were victorious, and 
in 97 partially successful, whereas they failed in 580 establish- 
ments. Thus in only 30 per cent of the establishments affected 
did they gain even part of their demands, and obtained all that 
they sought in only 18.4 per cent of the establishments. A 
comparison of these percentages with those for the disputes 
in all industries shows that the cotton mill employees have 
been particularly unsuccessful. In the total for all industries 
during the same period the strikes in 47.9 per cent of the estab- 
lishments were entirely successful, and completely failed in 
only 36.8 per cent. 

1 Mass. Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Report, 1880, p. 8. 

2 Ibid., p. 23. 3 Ibid., p. 35. 4 Ibid., pp. 55-56. 



LABOR 127 

The period since 1880, moreover, has not differed in this 
respect from the preceding years. We have no statistics prior 
to 1880, but the Massachusetts Bureau of the Statistics of Labor 
collected and published in its report for 1880 the records, so far 
as obtainable, of all the strikes in Massachusetts for many 
preceding years. These records show that the strikes of any 
magnitude in the cotton industry failed with a single exception, 
and in that instance success was but temporary, inasmuch as 
the manufacturers withdrew the concessions as soon as trade 
conditions furnished them with a pretext. This successful 
strike was in Fall River in 1875. Later in the same year another 
strike to prevent the employers from rescinding their earlier 
action ended in failure, and the strikers not only accepted the 
reduction in wages after having been out for nine weeks, but 
signed an agreement that they would not join a union and that 
" only one out of every eight operatives could give notice to 
leave work at the same time." A temporary victory thus ended 
in bitter defeat. This was the only occasion of even temporary 
success shown by the records. The workers' demands were 
acceded to occasionally after disputes of short duration, when 
the manufacturers were especially desirous of averting trouble. 
But on the whole the operatives have seldom been able to secure 
concessions. 

The lack of union spirit amongst the foreign element has not 
been evidenced to the same degree by all nationalities. The 
English are usually the strongest union men, and the greater 
frequency of strikes in Fall River has been attributed, probably 
with justice, to the larger number of English employed there. 
Accustomed to unions in the " mother country," and more 
intelligent than many of the other immigrants, they have been 
ready to join hands in their common cause. The French Cana- 
dians, on the contrary, have never caught that spirit. When 
they were coming to New England in largest numbers, in the 
'seventies and 'eighties, they were called " knobsticks," a 
term of reproach because of their willingness to take positions 
vacated by strikers. Energetic and frugal, they ordinarily 
accepted without complaint the terms offered by the employers. 



128 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The Portuguese, Poles, Greeks, and other recent acquisitions 
have taken much the same attitude as the French Canadians. 
The Greeks, to be sure, are reputed to be rather troublesome, 
but not because of their loyalty to union principles. 

The southern mill operatives have also failed to manifest 
much union sentiment, and labor organizations are of very recent 
origin in that section. The people themselves have been strongly 
individualistic, and the scattered mill villages and the somewhat 
paternalistic attitude of the employers have not fostered the 
movement. Harmony between employees and employers, 
although often exaggerated, has prevailed. Continued associa- 
tion, however, is likely to bear fruits in the form of combina- 
tions among the operatives, and a nucleus has appeared within 
the last three or four years. The mill owners are organized 
and concerted action on their part will compel the laborers 
to adopt protective measures. 

The employers, both northern and southern, have been able 
to maintain the upper hand in the past, so that the operatives 
were allowed to say little about the terms of employment, and 
in New England the union movement is likely to lack virility 
so long as new workers can be so easily procured. To be sure, 
a manufacturer seldom cares to change the personnel of his 
factory and to train new workmen. He prefers to keep those 
who are familiar with his methods. But the readiness of the 
work people to change their place of abode has served to protect 
them to only a slight degree. This brings us to the subject of 
wages. 

Wages 

In the first place, what do we mean by wages ? To define 
wages as the income received by laborers is not sufficient for 
our purposes, since it does not clearly indicate the relations that 
must be borne in mind. The wages question can be approached 
from two points of view, that of the employee or that of the 
employer. For the former, money wages are to be considered 
in connection with the prices that have to be paid for the goods 
which he purchases. If a laborer receives fifty per cent higher 
money wages now than twenty years ago, he is better off only 



LABOR 129 

in so far as he can buy more commodities at the present time. 
For the manufacturer, on the other hand, the money wages 
which he pays to his employees are significant only when the 
productivity of the laborers and the price of the product are 
taken into consideration. He may pay higher weekly wages 
and at the same time find the relative expense for labor less 
because of technical improvements or a rise in the price at which 
he sells. A mere statement of the changes in the money wages, 
therefore, has in itself little significance. Moreover an average 
wage for all cotton mill employees, such as that given in the 
Census, is based upon the earnings of laborers of many grades 
of skill, and if the number of laborers in any grade has become 
proportionately less during a given period, or if the wages of 
all have not undergone the same fluctuations, a comparison of 
general averages is misleading. It is worse than useless. 

In this study it is the manufacturer's point of view which is 
taken, or the relation of wages to cost of production. 1 To trace 
the history of changes in the proportional cost for labor, however, 
is a task which, unfortunately, cannot be undertaken with any 
great pretense at accuracy. Owing to alterations in the com- 
position of the labor force, in technique, in methods of payment 
and accounting, and the diversity of different qualities of 
product, the problem is beset with many difficulties. 

Earnings do not serve as an index to changes in labor cost, 
for reasons indicated above. A majority of the laborers em- 
ployed in a cotton mill are paid piece rates. These are not the 
same in all mills turning out the same grade of cloth, and there is 
even less correspondence in mills manufacturing different grades, 
the rates being somewhat higher, as a rule, the finer or more 
fancy the fabric. In the United States there are no standard 
wage lists similar to those in the English cotton manufacturing 
districts, so that we have not that assistance, however formidable 
the interpretation might appear. The technical improvements 
in cotton mill machinery during the last five decades have been 
accompanied by the fixing of new piece rates, usually at lower 

1 This does not imply that the relation of income to cost of living is not equally 
important. 



130 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

levels, but all departments and all grades have not been affected 
alike. 

Cost keeping methods are not the same as those of i860, 
even in individual concerns, and are not at all uniform. While 
some companies may have made but slight changes, others have 
adopted far more accurate systems for ascertaining the expendi- 
ture per yard for each item in the cost. Granting that variations 
of this sort would not invalidate all comparisons, there is still 
the practical difficulty of obtaining the data. Few cotton 
manufacturers are willing to state just what percentage of their 
expenses is for labor or what proportion of the cost per yard 
goes to wages. 1 

The most definite information obtainable is for the weaving 
piece rate in Fall River, and that shows little advance during 

Rate Paid Per Cut for Weaving Regular Print Cloth 
in Fall River 2 

884 Feb. 4 18.50 cents 1899 Feb. 27 18. cents 

885 Jan. 19 16.50 1899 Dec. n 19.80 

886 March 1 18.15 1902 March 17 21.78 

888 Feb. 13 19. 1903 Nov. 23 19.80 

892 July 11 19.60 1904 July 25 17-32 

892 Dec. 5 21. 1905 Oct. 30 18.61 

893 Sept. 11 18. 1906 July 2 19.80 

894 Aug. 20 16. 1906 Nov. 26 21.78 

895 April 22 18. 1907 May 27 23.96 

898 Jan. 1 16. 1908 May 25 19.66 

the last twenty-five years. The rate per cut (45 yards) paid 
for weaving regular print cloth is the basis on which the sliding 
scale of wages has been adjusted and is used as an index for all 

1 It is regretted that it has not been possible to present at least a summary of 
the course of wages in this industry. There was not time, however, for the collec- 
tion of the data. Satisfactory results could be obtained only after a long search 
through the U. S. Census, the State censuses (particularly the Massachusetts Census 
of 1885), the Aldrich Report on Prices and Wages, the reports of the state labor 
bureaus, the information collected privately by such investigators as Young and 
Uttley, and finally the records of the manufacturing corporations themselves. 
Moreover the figures must not only be unearthed, but they must be compiled and 
the numerous discrepancies accounted for. As just stated, lack of time forbade 
the assumption of such a task. 

2 Mass. Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Bulletin No. 51, p. 33. 



LABOR 131 

wages in Fall River. Except for the high rate of 1907, during 
the period of great activity that preceded the crash, these piece 
wages have remained at practically the same level. 1 

This evidence from Fall River that piece wages have increased 
but slightly since 1884, is supported by data furnished privately 
by a large mill in another part of New England, manufacturing 
a different grade of goods. These figures show the reductions 
and increases in wages by this concern since 1881. The 
fluctuations have corresponded to those in Fall River and 
probably to those in New England generally. In this mill the 
wages were below the level of 1881 from 1885 till 1907, when, 
on June 3, they became one-half of one per cent higher and 
on December 31, five per cent higher than in 1881. But they 
dropped during the ensuing depression to five per cent below 
that standards 

These are only general indices, however, and do not show 
how each department has been affected. As new machines 
have been introduced, the piece rates have generally fallen, as 
for instance the weaving rate on Northrop looms. This has 
meant a lower labor cost for the manufacturer. Increases in 
earnings have occurred only when the reductions in piece rates 
have not balanced the increase in the output per workman. 
Technical improvements have enabled one operative to tend 
more machines or to secure a larger output from a single machine, 
but lower piece rates have checked the advance of earnings. 
In general the immigrants have tended to keep wages at nearly 
a constant level. 

The only system of collective bargaining for fixing wages in 
the American cotton manufacturing industry is the sliding 
scale agreement in Fall River. 2 This arrangement was intro- 
duced in 1905, after a protracted strike which had caused severe 
losses to both parties. According to the first plan, 3 which 

1 The prices of cloth underwent similar fluctuations. In 1884 the average 
price for regular print cloth in New York was 3.36 cents per yard; in 1892, 3.39 
cents; in 1889, 2.06 cents; in 1907, 4.62 cents; and in 1908, 3.50 cents. 

2 J. T. Lincoln, " The Fall River Sliding Scale," Quarterly Journal of Eco- 
nomics, vol. xxiii, pp. 450-469. 

3 Mass. Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Bulletin No. 51, p. 27. 



132 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

originated with Governor Douglass who was called upon to 
settle the dispute, eighteen cents per cut was made the basis 
when there was a margin of 72 J cents between the cost of eight 
pounds of middling upland cotton (New York quotation) and the 
average selling price of 45 yards of 28-inch 64X64 print cloth 
and 33.11 yards of 38j-inch print cloth. The employers agreed 
to pay, at the end of every four weeks, to those who had been 
in their employ two weeks or more, one per cent additional on 
their earnings for every cent that the margin exceeded 723 
cents. The plan did not prove satisfactory, however, and on 
July 2, 1906, it was abolished. 1 

A new agreement was entered into May 3, 1907, 2 between the 
Manufacturers' Association and the Textile Council in which 
the five unions were joined. By this scheme the wages were to 
be regulated by the same margin as before. But instead of the 
percentage arrangement, certain definite rates were fixed for a 
graduated scale of margins, with a maximum of 23.96 cents 
per cut for a margin of 115 and a minimum of 18 cents for a 
margin of 72 J cents. Wages were not to exceed the maximum 
nor fall below the minimum even if the margin became greater 
or less than the limits set. The agreement of 1905 had had the 
same minimum, but no maximum. Revisions of wages were 
to be made only every six months, instead of every month, thus 
giving greater stability. Another provision stipulated the 
length of notice to be given if either party desired to change 
the contract. 

This agreement was amended in August, 1907, 3 so that a change 
in the rate took place with a drop or rise of two and one-half 
points in the margin instead of for five or ten points, and on 
August 27, 1907, the Weavers' Union and the Manufacturers' 
Association agreed upon 47 \ yards as the standard cut. 4 The 
operatives became dissatisfied with the terms, however, and on 
February 16, 1910, gave notice of their withdrawal from the 
agreement. 

1 Mass. Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Bulletin No. 51, p. 29. 

2 Ibid., p. 32. 

3 Ibid., No. 60, p. 268. 

4 Ibid., No. 52, p. 102. 



LABOR 133 

The scale, it will be noticed, was based upon the print cloth 
margin only, but a change was made in the wage paid each 
operative in just the same proportion that weavers' wages were 
altered. The wages of all the employees were subjected to these 
regulations, although only a small percentage were members of 
the unions which were a party to the contract. Over twenty- 
five thousand employees were affected by the agreement. To 
avert possible dissatisfaction the employers waived their rights 
to a reduction of wages at the three settlement dates following 
the panic of 1907. The motives of the manufacturers in declin- 
ing to follow the letter of the agreement were two-fold: in the 
first place they took an interest in the general welfare of their 
employees, and in the second place they were in a position 
where they could continue the old rates in force in spite of the 
depression. They wished to placate the laborers and promote 
a feeling of good- will in order to discourage strikes in the future. 
Objections were urged against certain features of this scheme, 1 
but it was a step in the direction of industrial peace. 

1 The chief objections were that there was no insurance to the workmen against 
partial closure of the mills (short time) which operated to the same effect as a cut 
in wages, and that it was possible for a slump in the market to cause an excessive 
reduction in a single year. 



CHAPTER VII 

TEXTILE SCHOOLS 

The need of special facilities for technical education in various 
branches of industry has been recognized in all the countries 
where the factory system has assumed an important role. The 
apprenticeship system sufficed for the training of young men 
in the arts of production so long as that production was carried 
on in the home, the shop, or even in a small sized factory. But 
with the steadily increasing size of the industrial establishment, 
the more minute division of labor, the use of more complex 
machinery and the quickened pace of work, the factory became 
even more unsatisfactory as a school in which to train men for 
the higher positions, and the average unskilled workman no 
longer had much chance to pull himself up to a higher level. 
On the other hand, the very increase in the scale of operations 
and the keenness of the competition placed a premium upon 
the competent overseer and superintendent, and where it was 
desired to improve the quality of the product a greater demand 
for skilled workmen arose. 

Technical education may be given in schools which offer 
instruction in a variety of subjects that are connected more or 
less closely with several industries, or it may be given in a trade 
school which undertakes to teach the principles and practice 
to be met with in only a single industry or a single group of 
industries. Textile schools, obviously, belong to the second 
group. These textile schools may serve either one or both of 
two objects. The course may be planned with a view to turning 
out overseers, superintendents, and experts in certain depart- 
ments, such as chemists or designers, or its chief purpose may be 
to enable the laborers to become better workmen. From the 
industrial point of view both objects are highly desirable, while 
from the social point of view the second, by assisting the laborer 
to help himself, is especially commendable. 

134 



TEXTILE SCHOOLS 135 

The United States lagged behind the European countries in 
introducing textile education, a sluggishness due in part at least 
to the fact that our mills were manufacturing coarse and medium 
goods of simple design. The first textile schools in the United 
States gave instruction only in designing. These were the 
Lowell School for Practical Design established in Boston in 
1872, and the Rhode Island School of Design founded in Provi- 
dence in 1878. 1 The first school to provide instruction in other 
branches of textile work was established at Philadelphia in 
1884. 

The Philadelphia Textile School offers a three year course, 
including instruction in all the various processes connected 
with the manufacture of cotton, wool, and silk. Classes are 
held during the day and in the evening, but, on the whole, 
more attention is given to the day classes. In 1905 there were 
86 day pupils and 168 evening pupils enrolled in the school. 2 
A majority of the students take the general course, which aims 
at starting them on the road for the higher positions in textile 
manufacturing. The graduates also find a field open to them 
in merchandizing, and occasionally as experts for insurance 
companies. The night classes are not unimportant in this 
school, yet it does not reach many of the common workmen in 
the mills. It specializes in the education of men to fill the places 
at the top. 

The New England cotton manufacturers were stimulated by 
the pressure of the competition from the mills in the South to 
seek some way of safeguarding their position and turned to 
textile education as one means of relief. They hoped that this 
would foster the development of the manufacture of the finer 
grades of cotton goods in New England. Their efforts resulted 
in the passage of a law in Massachusetts in 1895 authorizing 
the establishment of a textile school in any city in the state 
which had at least 450,000 spindles, and granting state aid to 
the amount of $25,000 on condition that the municipality 
raised an equal amount. There were four cities with the re- 
quisite number of spindles, — Lowell, Fall River, New Bedford, 

1 U. S. Department of Labor, Bulletin No. 54, p. 1379. 

2 Mass. Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Bulletin No. 43, p. 337. 



I36 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

and Lawrence, and the first three have availed themselves of 
the opportunity. 1 

The movement took tangible form with the establishment of 
the Lowell Textile School in 1896. For the day students five 
regular courses are offered, each of three years' length, on the 
completion of any one of which a diploma is granted. These 
courses are (1) Cotton Manufacturing, (2) Wool Manufacturing, 
(3) Textile Designing, (4) Chemistry and Dyeing, and (5) Textile 
Engineering. Evening classes provide instruction in the same 
subjects, and a certificate is given to those who satisfactorily 
complete a course. When a sufficient number of certificates 
have been obtained, they may be exchanged for a diploma. 
Students are admitted to the evening classes on presentation of 
a certificate of graduation from a grammar school or a school of 
higher standing, or upon passing an examination in English 
and arithmetic. For entrance to the day classes a high school 
diploma, or its equivalent, is necessary. 

The school aims at instilling the principles of textile manu- 
facturing, and the relatively high standard of requirements for 
entrance show that the primary object is to instruct the more 
intelligent workmen and those who can fill places of responsi- 
bility. The number of day students in 1905 was 141, of evening 
students 588. 2 Four years later the former had increased to 
173 and the latter had fallen to 505. 3 The larger number of 
evening students shows that it is serving local needs as well as 
the needs of the textile world at large. The classification of 
day students by courses reveals the fact that on January 1, 1909, 
sixty-four per cent were specializing in designing, chemistry 
and dyeing, or textile engineering. Seventy-two per cent of 
the evening students were pursuing subjects that would fall 
within the same field. The remainder were enrolled in the special 
courses for one or the other of the separate textile industries. 

The New Bedford Textile School was opened in October, 1899, 
and is devoted principally to instruction in the manufacture of 

1 Lawrence was so near to Lowell that it helped to support that school instead 
of establishing another of the same sort. 

2 Mass. Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Bulletin No. 43, p. 323. 
8 Mass. Documents, 1908-09, House, no. 263, pp. 5, 6. 



1 



TEXTILE SCHOOLS 137 

cotton. It offers a three year course in cotton manufacturing, 
a one year course in cotton carding and spinning, a similar 
course in cotton weaving, a two year course in designing, a 
course of the same duration in chemistry and dyeing, a complete 
three year course in knitting, and one year courses in seamless 
hosiery and in latch-needle underwear knitting. The various 
branches of the above subjects are taught in the evening classes. 

The evening classes are the most important feature of the 
New Bedford school's work. The number of day students 
was 29 in 1905 and 40 in 1909, whereas the evening students 
numbered 363 in 1905 and 509 in 1909. For admission to the 
evening classes there are practically no requirements, and 
instruction is provided in certain elementary subjects for those 
whose primary education has been defective. In one weaving 
class, moreover, the instruction is given entirely in French. 
A majority of the evening students are young men from twenty 
to thirty years of age, although one evening student in 1909 was 
sixty years old. They are the more ambitious of the ordinary 
workmen, possessed of a relatively small amount of skill. The 
training of that class of operatives is particularly desirable in 
New Bedford where skilled laborers are needed for carrying on 
the manufacture of fine cloth. 

The Fall River Textile School, founded in 1900, has pursued 
a policy similar to that of the school in New Bedford. It had, 
in 1905, 11 day pupils and 419 evening pupils; in 1909, 38 of 
the former and 701 of the latter. The subjects taught embrace 
the various branches of cotton manufacturing, with a general 
course for the day students and evening classes in special subjects 
to assist the operatives from the mills. 

The Industrial School opened at Lawrence in 1907 is of a 
somewhat different character. It undertakes to provide for 
the working men a practical education in the textile and metal 
trades. There are no entrance requirements, no fees, and 
classes are held only in the evening. 1 Thus this school tries to 
reach the lowest grade of laborers, especially the immigrants, 
who are, to a certain extent, kept out of the textile schools by 

1 Textile World Record, vol. xxxvi, p. 231. 



138 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY ' ,,- 

their ignorance of the English language. The service which it 
may in this way perform is no less valuable than that unques- 
tionably performed by the more advanced institutions. 

The example set by Massachusetts probably had some influence 
in inducing southern institutions to introduce textile education. 
In addition to this spur, the very growth of cotton manufacturing 
in that section, accompanied by a deeper appreciation of the 
need of skilled men, acted as a stimulus. Textile departments 
have been opened at five southern colleges, 1 — Clemson College, 
South Carolina, in 1898, the North Carolina College of Agri- 
culture and Mechanical Arts, and the Georgia School of Technol- 
ogy in 1899, the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical 
College in 1901, and the Agricultural and Mechanical College 
of Texas in 1905. The number of students in the textile courses 
at Clemson College in 1905 was twenty, at the Mississippi 
College sixteen, 2 and at the others a correspondingly small 
number. As these institutions are not located in cotton manu- 
facturing centres and have no evening classes, their purpose is 
to train experts and men for managerial positions. 

Instruction in subjects connected with textile manufacturing 
is also given by several correspondence schools. The number of 
persons pursuing this course cannot be ascertained, but it is not 
negligible. This means of education is utilized by what may be 
called the middle class of operatives, those who cannot afford 
the time or expense of attending a regular textile school and yet 
who have had sufficient training to enable them to profit from 
this sort of study. 

Labor unions are not always in favor of trade education, 
fearing that it will so increase competition as to cause a fall in 
wages. In New Bedford there was some opposition from this 
source at the outset, but the unions soon became indifferent 3 
and later took a more or less positive interest. In the same way 
at Lowell, while there was no outright opposition, it was several 
years before the unions became really sympathetic. At the 

1 U. S. Commissioner of Labor, 17th Annual Report, 1902, p. 133; also Mass. 
Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Bulletin No. 43, pp. 338-345. 

2 Mass. Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Bulletin No. 43, p. 345. 

3 U. S. Commissioner of Labor, 17th Annual Report, 1902, p. 148. 



TEXTILE SCHOOLS 1 39 

present time, in both of these cities as well as in Fall River, 
the unions are supporting the schools, their changed attitude 
being due, perhaps, to the non-realization of any evil effects 
upon their earnings, but more likely to the fact that a large 
number of the laborers find it worth while to attend the schools. 

The employers, as well as the laborers, have a direct interest 
in these schools. The New England textile schools owe their 
origin largely to the efforts of manufacturers, and in spite of 
the fact that some managers of New England mills are only 
lukewarm and a few others consider that the time spent in the 
textile schools could be used to better advantage in a mill, 
the manufacturers are, in the main, enthusiastic supporters. 
In the South there seems to be less interest taken in the schools 
by the employers. 

Chemists and certain other experts must have a scien- 
tific training, and in general the American employers find the 
graduates of textile schools satisfactorily equipped in these 
branches, so that there is a fairly good demand for the services 
of such specialists. With designing it is somewhat different. 
A great deal has been heard about the need for the American 
cotton manufacturers to develop original designs, but the demand 
continues to be chiefly for men who can copy European designs, 
not for those with originality. Although there has been little to 
encourage the schools to put forth more effort in this direction, 
they do continue to urge men to take up that line of work. 

The concensus of opinion in America seems to be, both on 
the side of the administrators of the schools and of the manu- 
facturers, that the experiments have not yet had time to show 
their effects, that their fruit has not yet ripened. It is quite 
probable, however, that in the future the textile schools will be 
of vital importance in aiding to bring about technical improve- 
ments, in educating the rank and file of the workmen, and in 
helping to provide men capable of managing a department of 
a cotton mill, or of superintending a whole mill. The last 
function has assumed more and more significance with the 
growth of the industry and the development of its organization. 



CHAPTER VIII 

SCALE OF PRODUCTION AND SPECIALIZATION 

The history of the expansion of the American cotton manu- 
facturing industry under the influence of various factors has 
thus far been traced. The analysis of its organization should 
next be considered, since improvements in organization have 
resulted in savings which have probably been greater than those 
arising from the advance in technique. There are two distinct 
divisions of the subject, the industrial organization and the 
commercial organization. The former includes size of plant, 
specialization, and combinations. The opening chapter is de- 
voted to the first two topics under the subject of industrial 
organization. 

Large Scale Production 

For many years cotton yarn and cloth have been produced in 
the United States only under the factory system. The essential 
characteristic of this system, as contrasted with the domestic 
or " putting out " system, is a better organization of the unit 
of production under the direct supervision of the manufacturer, — 
better adjustment, better discipline, better regulation. Conse- 
quently, whatever changes aim at improving the organization 
of manufacturing methods and management under such direct 
oversight are to be considered as extensions of the factory 
system. Hence within this category falls the increase in the 
scale of production since that has for its primary object either a 
better utilization of natural resources and advantages, a greater 
subdivision of labor, a nicer adjustment of machinery and 
processes, or economies in management. 

During the period which has elapsed since the Civil War the 
size of American cotton mills has increased, although the aver- 
age size differs between different sections of the country and also 

140 



SCALE OF PRODUCTION AND SPECIALIZATION 141 

between kinds of work. In New England the average number of 
spindles per establishment in i860, according to the Census of 
that year, was 6,700; in Massachusetts 7,700. These statistics, 
though admittedly inaccurate, indicate the size of the mills in 
the chief cotton manufacturing centre immediately before the 
outbreak of the Civil War. In 1870, to show the scale of pro- 
duction at the time when the rate of expansion was becoming 
accelerated, the average number of spindles per establishment 
in New England was 10,823; in Massachusetts 13,715. At each 
of these dates there were few cotton mills in other parts of the 
country, and they were smaller than the New England mills. 
Hence we can conclude that the representative mill in 1870 had 
not over twenty thousand spindles. 

At the present time a representative New England mill has 
from fifty to one hundred thousand spindles. This is shown 
by statements of manufacturers, by the textile directories, and 
finally by the Census statistics of 1905. According to the 
Census the average number of spindles per spinning and weaving 
mill in New England in 1905 was 5 5, 000. 1 As a rule the advan- 
tages of large scale production are fully obtained by a plant of 
fifty to seventy-five thousand spindles, and one to two thousand 
looms. 

There are various reasons for this increase in the size of the 
plants. In the first place, it enables economy in management. 
A large concern can afford to employ a more efficient superin- 
tendent and more efficient assistants to direct the work in the 
different departments, since the larger the plant the less the 
overhead expense in proportion to product. In the second 
place, with the advance in technique, machinery has become 
more expensive; and there are some labor saving machines 
which can be employed economically only when the industry 
is on a large scale, as for example the machines for tying 
or drawing in the warps. In securing the proper adjust- 
ment and balancing of the different departments the large plant 
has an advantage. Again, many of the larger establishments 
have their own repair shops, and the burden of the cost of 

1 U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 74, p. 55. 



142 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

equipping and maintaining such a shop is relatively less for a 
large plant. There is also a saving in power, since it can be 
supplied more economically for one large plant than for several 
small ones. In some New England cities, control of water- 
power rights has led the older corporations to make additions 
to their plants; they have exploited their monopoly privileges. 
Finally there is doubtless some economy in buying supplies and 
in selling the goods, especially when a mill owns valuable trade 
marks. 

There are a number of plants much larger than the average, 
however, which as a class present certain peculiar characteris- 
tics. The Amoskeag Mills in Manchester, New Hampshire, 
have 650,000 spindles; the Fall River Iron Works, 466,800; 
the Wamsutta Mills in New Bedford, 222,500; the Pacific Mills 
in Lawrence, 179,600; and several more operate over 100,000 
spindles. These great plants are really combinations of several 
mills, since each is divided into separate departments in which 
both spinning and weaving are carried on. All the spindles 
are not grouped in one building and all the looms in another, 
but each department is a more or less complete cotton mill in 
itself. The Wamsutta plant comprises nine mills, and the 
Fall River Iron Works seven. This decentralization would 
probably not have taken place if the division of labor among 
the operatives were not carried to the extreme in a mill of about 
fifty thousand spindles, so that little is to be gained in that respect 
by further concentration of the processes. A saving results 
from this splitting up, as each mill can be specialized and the 
yarn prepared and more easily delivered to the looms. Better 
adjustment is secured, while at the same time each department 
is large enough to make it profitable to employ a capable 
supervisor to direct it. 

In view of this division within the plant, the question may 
fairly be raised as to what advantages accrue from combining 
the mills into one plant. The benefits of large scale production, 
to be sure, make themselves felt here. The burden of overhead 
expense is lightened, some advantage in capital and credit 
obtained, and economy in machinery, power, and repairs se- 



SCALE OF PRODUCTION AND SPECIALIZATION 143 

cured. But after a certain point is reached, the saving through 
reduplication becomes relatively less and less. The chief reason 
for such combination lies in the fact that nearly all of these 
exceptionally large concerns bleach, print, or dye their own 
products. This can be done more economically in the larger 
plant, since the finishing must be on a fairly large scale in order 
to make it pay to equip and maintain the works and employ 
efficient overseers. 

In the South the mills are smaller than in New England. 
Taking as the unit the spinning and weaving mill, as we did for 
New England, the average number of spindles per establishment 
in 1905 was 27,300 in South Carolina, 15,700 in Georgia, and 
only 11,500 in North Carolina. Thus the representative mill 
in South Carolina is only half as large as that in New England, 
and in North Carolina only slightly over one-fifth as large. 
To be sure, there are a few big mills in the South, — in South 
Carolina the Olympia Mills with 100,300 spindles, the Union- 
Buffalo Company's plant at Union with 94,000 spindles, and the 
Anderson Mills with 70,000 spindles; in Georgia, the Massa- 
chusetts Mills in Georgia with 90,000 spindles, and the Eagle 
and Phoenix Mills with 70,000 spindles; and in Alabama the 
Merrimack Mills with 92,500 spindles. But these big mills are 
exceptional and stand out strongly in contrast with the numerous 
small establishments distributed all over the Piedmont district. 
Many of the small concerns have less than 10,000 spindles, 
frequently only three or four thousand. 

The small sized mills have come into existence and have 
continued to live by reason of certain local advantages. Water- 
power was available at numerous points, and a little mill was 
sometimes started to utilize a local water-fall. Local pride 
induced investors, such as farmers or merchants, to put their 
savings into a mill, though small, in their own neighborhood rather 
than in a more remote centre. The most influential factor, 
however, was labor. Frequently a mill was established in an 
out of the way place so as to employ workmen who were not 
willing to move but would work for low wages near their homes. 
And wherever the small factories were situated, in large towns or 



144 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

country villages, it was the lower wage level which made it 
possible for them to compete successfully with the larger mills 
in the North. 

The little mills in the South, when they have not failed, have 
gradually increased in size though the average is still far below 
that in New England. They have found themselves handicapped 
in various ways. Some have suffered from unfavorable location, 
others from other disadvantages, and all from the sacrifice of 
the technical and administrative advantages to be gained by 
centralization and large scale production. The management 
of such mills has generally been inefficient or disproportionately 
expensive. They have either been unable to employ efficient 
superintendents, or else have employed men who could manage 
a large plant and therefore command a salary out of proportion 
to the work which they were called upon to do. A superin- 
tendent of the former class has been known to stop his whole 
mill while he figured out how he could remedy a slight defect 
in the gearing. 

The mills which produce specialties such as braids and 
tape, wherever located, are smaller than the cloth mills. The 
establishments in the vicinity of Philadelphia, which manu- 
facture lace, lace curtains, and upholstery goods, are likewise 
relatively smaller. The market for these classes of goods is 
narrower, and the product less standardized. 

While the knitting industry has manifested the same tendency 
toward large scale production, its progress in that direction has 
been independent of the development of cloth manufacturing. 
It was not until after i860 that there was a factory produc- 
tion of knit goods of any magnitude in the United States, 
and only during the 'eighties that the manufacture of cot- 
ton knit goods assumed first importance. With the improve- 
ments in technique, the factory system developed, and at the 
same time the knitting of cotton yarn became more important 
than the knitting of woolen yarn. In 1890 the statement was 
made in the Census report that the knitting industry was still 
half domestic. But the inventions which were just then being 
introduced soon brought the manufacture of cotton knit goods 



SCALE OF PRODUCTION AND SPECIALIZATION 145 

under the factory system. 1 The automatic knitting machines 
could be used to best advantage in the production of large 
quantities of standardized goods, and the specialized finishing 
machines necessitated subdivision of labor. 

The introduction of the factory system into the knitting 
industry has been followed by an increase in the size of the 
plants. We have no satisfactory index to show this growth, 
since there is a difference in the machines used and the number 
of processes included. The large mills usually spin their own 
yarn while the smaller establishments buy their supplies. More- 
over in the Census, cotton, woolen, and silk knit goods are 
unavoidably grouped together in such a way that it is not possible 
to present statistics relative to the size of the establishments in 
any one branch. But an examination of a textile directory 
shows that the largest establishments in the knit-goods industry 
are those producing cotton knit goods, particularly those manu- 
facturing hosiery and underwear staples. The majority of the 
smaller establishments manufacture gloves, mittens, and various 
other articles for which the demand is more limited. The 
Census of 1900 states that " the great variety of goods made 
facilitates a tendency shown by this industry to maintain itself 
in comparatively small mills which purchase their yarns and 
require but small capital." The large mills which manufacture 
staples have an advantage in better management, and especially 
in greater division of labor, nevertheless the small mills are able 
to maintain themselves during the period of transition. It 
would not be advisable for them to attempt to spin their own 
yarn as long as they are not able to consume it in large quantities. 
Although small establishments still exist, their number will 
probably diminish with the concentration of the industry and 
the sharper definition of the lines along which it is to develop 
in the future. 

Specialization 

As the industrial units for the manufacture of cotton have 
become larger in size, as the volume of product has increased, 

1 The domestic system, it should be stated, has not entirely died out, since the 
products of a few small mills are still put out to be finished. 



I46 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

this product has become more and more diversified. Hand 
in hand with diversification has gone specialization. Localities, 
because of natural or acquired advantages, are more or less 
identified with the production of a certain class or classes of 
goods. The plants also have been more or less specialized, 
and even within individual plants there is not infrequently a 
further specialization. 

The distinction which naturally first attracts attention is 
that between the products of northern and southern mills. To 
show the character of the output for these sections the statistics 
of the Census for 1900 and 1905 are available, but the classifica- 
tion for earlier years unfortunately does not permit of detailed 
comparison. 

Products 

{Million sq. yds.) 

United States New England South 

1900 1905 1900 1905 1900 1905 
Print cloth, (not finer than 

No. 28 warp) 1,056.3 812.3 847.9 575-3 i"-i 159-8 

Print cloth (finer than No. 28 

warp) 525.3 1,006.0 383.2 556.2 139.2 446.0 

Sheetings and Shirtings 1,212.4 1,172.3 481.3 373-1 644.6 737.0 

Twills and Sateens 235.9 366.1 198.8 277.9 I 5-6 79-i 

Fancy Woven Fabrics 237.8 306.3 188. 1 215.2 11. 5 49.8 

Ginghams 278.4 302.3 111.5 163.2 151.9 130.8 

Duck, sail. 11.8 9.6 .5 .7 2.7 6.5 

Duck, other 1*7-5 113-0 31.0 22.4 66.8 74.9 

Drills 237.2 194.7 48.2 30.0 188.8 164.3 

Ticks, Denims, and Stripes ... 17 1.8 256.4 108.4 I09- 1 50.4 138.6 

Cottonades 26.3 25.4 5.6 2.7 12.4 14.5 

Napped fabrics 268.9 33°-8 218.6 243.5 4°-6 86.1 

Corduroy, Cotton Velvet, and 

Plush 7.9 16.0 3.7 7.6 1.7 

These statistics show that New England predominates in the 
manufacture of print cloth, twills and sateens, fancy woven 
fabrics, napped fabrics, and corduroy, cotton velvet, and plush; 
the South in sheetings and shirtings, duck, drills, and cottonades; 
while in ginghams and ticks, denims, and stripes, the two sections 
are about equal. The apparent decline in the manufacture of 
coarse print cloth in New England in 1905 was due to the pro- 
tracted strike in Fall River in 1904 which greatly cut down the 



SCALE OF PRODUCTION AND SPECIALIZATION 147 

total output. It is to be noted that the bulk of the goods in 
both sections are still o* coarse or medium grade. Although 
the New England mills are producing more and more fine goods, 
they continue to turn out large quantities of the coarse grades, 
and the South has made only a small beginning in the manufac- 
ture of the finer fabrics. 

Various factors have caused the increase in the production 
of fine and fancy goods in New England. In the first place, the 
advance of the industry in the South stimulated the New Eng- 
land manufacturers about 1890 to seek new fields. 1 In the 
manufacture of the higher grades they had an advantage in a 
larger supply of skilled labor, since there were some operatives 
in New England who had been in the mills long enough to have 
become more or less skilled, and in addition a considerable 
number of English, Scotch, and German immigrants were 
available, who had acquired a knowledge of these branches in 
Europe. The supply of capable overseers was a most important 
item in this labor force. At the same time, the demand for 
finer goods was expanding, a demand arising from the material 
prosperity of the country. The technical improvements intro- 
duced since i860, also, were becoming adapted more and more 
to fine spinning and weaving and the finishing of fancies. And 
with the growth of the trade new inventions especially adapted 
to its needs have been introduced, partially a result of the 
expansion and at the same time an added impetus. 

Another factor has been the protective tariff. The manufac- 
turers would doubtless give this as the chief reason and cite it 
as a justification of the " infant industries " argument. Yet 
it may well be asked why the infant did not commence to grow 
sooner. Since the days of the Civil War the tariff on fine and 
fancy goods has certainly been high enough to stimulate the 
growth of almost any branch, if that were all that were needed. 
But it was not till after the competition of the southern mills 
became ominous, and the production of cotton cloth had become 

1 Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, 33d Annual Report, p. 82. 
The movement became more general at this time, although there had previously 
been changes by the more far-sighted managers. 



I48 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

so great that at last our mills could supply the coarse goods 
demanded by a rapidly growing population, that the manufac- 
turers began to take advantage of the protection offered by the 
high tariff. Secure in their possession of the domestic market 
which expanded as fast as new mills were built, the stimulus of 
competition from within was necessary to induce the mill 
owners to turn to hitherto unexploited fields. The high profits 
which the fine goods mills have made testify to the wisdom of 
their undertakings. 

The distinctions between the products of the local centres 
can be but roughly drawn. In Lowell and Lawrence, drills, 
sheetings, and shirtings are still manufactured, but of possibly 
greater importance is the output of such goods as fancy prints, 
corduroys, velveteens, and other seasonal fabrics. This char- 
acteristic is due primarily to the inclusion of printing and dyeing 
departments in the original equipment of the older mills in 
those cities. As the competition in the more common grades 
became keener, these mills undertook the printing of more 
fancy patterns and the output of other specialties. In Man- 
chester, New Hampshire, the bulk of the cotton goods manu- 
factured are ginghams, and in several other cities in this district 
there are mills which manufacture fabrics of similar character. 
Such products are seasonal goods, not staples. 

The cloth manufactured in the southern section of New Eng- 
land eludes classification. Fall River has long been a centre for 
the weaving of print cloths, a print works having been estab- 
lished there in 1825. * This print works, however, as well as 
those later erected in Fall River, was not connected with a 
weaving mill. The growth of Fall River was particularly rapid 
after 1865, at the time when calico was popular. Hence most 
of the mills built at that time wove print cloth, and at the present 
day Fall River dominates the print cloth market. These goods 
are mainly standardized staples and are not converted by the 
manufacturer. The separation of converting (in this case 
printing) and of manufacturing checked a development similar 
to that which has come about in the Lowell and Lawrence dis- 

1 H. H. Earl, History of Fall River, p. 23. 



SCALE OF PRODUCTION AND SPECIALIZATION 149 

trict. With a change in fashion, however, the market for calico 
ceased to expand at the same rate as that for other cotton 
goods. As a result the building of print cloth mills ceased 
about fifteen years ago in Fall River, and practically all of the 
new mills have been equipped for the manufacture of fine white 
goods, as in New Bedford. 

The expansion of cotton manufacturing in New Bedford during 
the last twenty years has been rapid, and fine white goods have 
been predominantly the characteristic product of the new 
factories. The time at which this development became acceler- 
ated in New Bedford was not one in which the prospects for 
the production of coarse goods were favorable in New England. 
Competition from the South was most severe. But there was 
an increasing demand for cloth of higher quality, and the favor- 
able climate of New Bedford has been an important factor in 
enabling her fine goods manufacturers to meet this demand, 
since humidity and freedom from rapid fluctuations in tempera- 
ture are essential in the spinning and weaving of fine yarns. 

No local specialization can be distinguished in the South, 
owing in part to the recent establishment of the industry in 
that section, and in part to its not being strongly localized. 
The Middle Atlantic States more closely resemble New England. 
Philadelphia is not only the centre of the hosiery and lace manu- 
facturing industry, but also of the production of cotton uphol- 
stery goods. As previously stated, the Mohawk Valley in New 
York is the leading district for the manufacture of underwear. 
The knit goods produced in Massachusetts, it may be added, 
are both hosiery and underwear, and in the southern and 
western states primarily hosiery. 

As between different establishments there has always been 
more or less specialization of product, each confining itself, 
as a rule, to the manufacture of one general class of goods, 
although there is frequently considerable variety within this 
class. Prior to the Civil War the bulk of the goods made 
in this country were coarse, and each mill produced but a 
few grades. Since the manufacture of goods of higher quality 
began, several of the older mills have changed their whole plant 



ISO THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

to the production of some single class of high grade fabrics. 
Some, as for example the Amoskeag, have become gingham 
mills. Others have specialized on fancy prints, corduroys, 
or fine sheetings and shirtings. And the newer mills in southern 
New England, as already stated, have been equipped for the 
manufacture of fine white goods. In the South there are only 
a few mills which produce anything but coarse cloth. The 
small size of most of the southern mills prevents much internal 
diversification of product, while the larger mills produce mainly 
export goods of three or four styles. 

The large northern concerns with a diversified output are com- 
posed of a series of units. The plants are divided into separate 
mills, Mill Number i, Mill Number 2, and so on, each of which is 
confined to a single grade of work. In each of these departments 
yarn is spun and woven and all the processes carefully adjusted 
to the kind of cloth to be produced. To be sure, the cloth from 
all the mills is finished by a single department, if the concern 
finishes its own product, but in the manufacture of the cloth 
there is more or less specialization even in those plants which 
at first seem exceptions to the general tendency. 

Although there are some mills which do no weaving but spin 
yarn for sale to supply knitting mills and weaving mills which are 
temporarily unable to meet their own needs, most of the mills 
in the United States both spin and weave. This practice of 
combining weaving and spinning arose early in the last century. 
The power looms introduced by the mills which had previ- 
ously woven their yarn on hand looms or disposed of it for 
household weaving while the industry was still in its infancy, 
fostered the extension of the combination as the industry grew. 
In the early days it would have been difficult for weaving mills 
to obtain a regular supply of yarn since the factories were scat- 
tered and the means of communication crude. Accordingly, 
after the introduction of the power loom, each mill undertook 
from the first to carry on all the processes of manufacturing 
cotton cloth, and as the industry expanded the practice continued, 
partly from custom and partly because the mills remained scat- 
tered over a relatively wide area. 



SCALE OF PRODUCTION AND SPECIALIZATION 151 

The technical development, furthermore, was such as to 
discourage separation, and has been the determining factor 
since the great improvements in means of communication 
which would have made possible the disposal of yarn by the 
spinner and its purchase by the weaver. The development 
of ring spinning, which is especially adapted to the industrial 
conditions in the country, makes it desirable to weave the yarn 
where it is spun, because of the heavy expense of transporting 
the wooden bobbins. 

The extent to which spinning and weaving are combined is 
shown by the following table from the Census of 1905. 

Cotton Mills in United States, 1905 x 

Spinning and Weaving Mills Spinning Mills Weaving Mills 

Establishments .... 590 295 169 

Spindles 19,171,542 3,984,071 

Looms 522,301 18,609 

While only fifty-five per cent of the establishments in the United 
States in 1905 carried on both spinning and weaving, these mills 
contained eighty-three per cent of the total number of spindles 
and ninety-seven per cent of the total number of looms. The 
greater number of the mills devoted to weaving solely are small 
establishments in Pennsylvania producing fancy goods. The 
majority of the mills which are engaged in spinning only are 
located in the South. These southern spinning mills, especially 
numerous in North Carolina, are for the most part small estab- 
lishments of five thousand spindles or less. The reasons for 
their existence have already been explained in describing the 
conditions peculiar to the industrial development of that section. 
That they should be engaged in spinning rather than in weaving 
is obviously due to their location near the supply of raw material. 
The spinner could save more on freight than the weaver, if his 
capital were not sufficient to warrant the undertaking of both 
processes. 

Cotton cloth is seldom converted at the mill where it is woven. 
Several of the older mills have continued to operate the bleaching 

1 U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 74, p. 55. 



152 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

plants, print works, or dye-houses which were installed early 
in their history. Gingham mills, also, usually have facilities 
for dyeing, since they use large quantities of dyed yarn. But 
by far the greater part of the cloth converting is done in inde- 
pendent establishments, a proportion which has become greater 
and greater with the increase in the number of large bleacheries, 
print works, and dyeing establishments dependent upon job 
work. These converting establishments, with a few exceptions, 
do not purchase the goods but convert them for the manufac- 
turer, or more frequently for the merchant-converter. 

There are two reasons why the converting of cotton goods 
has become more highly specialized during the last fifty years. 
First, it is more economical to do the work on a large scale, since 
it requires skill and experience, and the output of many mills 
can be converted much more cheaply by a single large estab- 
lishment. 1 Secondly, the demand for a greater variety of 
finishes and designs has resulted in the rise of the merchant- 
converter and the specialization of the converting business. 

The extent to which this specialization has gone is shown 
by the Census report of 1905. 2 In that year over four-fifths of 
the cloth printed, three-fourths of the cloth bleached, nine- 
tenths of the cloth dyed, and practicallv all of the cloth mer- 
cerized was operated upon in independent establishments. On 
the other hand the greater part of the raw stock dyeing, and 
yarn dyeing and bleaching was done by the mills themselves. 
The converting plants are located in New England and the 
Middle States, this branch of the cotton industry still being in 
an experimental stage in the South where the water is not suitable 
for bleaching and dyeing without filtering, and where there is 
a dearth of men capable of directing the work. Moreover, as 
most of the southern goods are shipped north to be sold, it is 
as economical to convert them near that market. 

1 There is an exception to this. Mills making heavy cloth, such as quilts and 
crash, often bleach their own goods and will probably do so to a greater extent in 
the future, since in this grade of work little skill is required and freight charges 
are an important item. 

2 U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 74, p. 205. 



SCALE OF PRODUCTION AND SPECIALIZATION 1 53 

The manufacture of knit goods is another specialized branch. 
Some of the large knitting mills spin their own yarn, but a 
majority rely upon spinning mills for their supply. Some 
mills knit both hosiery and underwear, whereas others, espe- 
cially the smaller ones, confine themselves to one branch. 

Standardization of product is more characteristic of American 
cotton mills than specialization. Long ago the coarse and 
medium plain goods were standardized so that the manufacturer 
seldom changed his machines from one kind to another. Simi- 
larly at the present time he produces large quantities of each 
sort for which he accepts orders. These are the gopds which 
are manufactured for stock when trade is temporarily dull. 
Likewise many designs of fine white cloth are standardized. 
They, too, are staples. The patterns of other white and striped 
goods are frequently changed,, but no small orders are accepted. 
In the manufacture of fancy prints, also, new designs are offered 
each season, but in this case the changes affect only the printing 
department inasmuch as the distinguishing feature is not weave 
but the pattern printed upon them. Yet each of these designs 
is for the time being standardized, since, as in the case of stripes 
and other fancy weaves, no mill will take an order for less than 
two thousand yards of a single pattern, and in many mills the 
minimum order acceptable is from six to ten thousand yards. 
The labor cost of preparing the pattern and setting up the 
machinery, both for fancy woven designs and for prints, is so 
high that small orders are not profitable for the American manu- 
facturer. 



CHAPTER IX 

ASSOCIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS 

The cotton manufacturing industry of the United States is 
frequently pointed out as an instance of a large industry in 
which the so-called " trust movement " has not, to any extent, 
made itself apparent. When we speak of the " trust movement, " 
we usually have in mind the combination of a large proportion 
of the firms engaged in any industry, under a unified manage- 
ment. The large " trusts," however, which attract so much 
attention, are only the more prominent manifestations of a 
deep-rooted and far-extending movement which is going on 
throughout the business world today. 

Just as on the one hand the factory system and large scale 
production represent the development of a higher organization 
of manufacturing, so on the other hand, as Professor Gay sug- 
gests, the movement for combination is primarily one for more 
effective organization of the market. The formation of trade 
associations, amalgamation, and integration are manifestations of 
the attempt to economize in buying and selling. As the various 
units engaged in the manufacture of any article or class of arti- 
cles have become grouped in certain localities, have specialized 
their business, and especially as they have become larger in 
size and the market has become broader, the need for united 
action has made itself more and more felt. At the same time 
these changes have made it easier for the manufacturers to act 
together in preventing ruinous competition. 

With this incentive to combination the motive for production 
on a larger scale, or aggregation, is closely connected and at 
times even confused. In the case of the United States Steel 
Corporation, the American Sugar Refining Company, and the 
so-called "Beef Trust," for example, the two elements are 
intimately joined together. In the cotton manufacturing 
industry, as we shall see, a similar interweaving exists in the case 



ASSOCIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS 1 55 

of the large trade associations and of the few amalgamations 
which have taken place. On the whole, however, the fact that 
under present conditions of manufacturing and of the organiza- 
tion of the market a plant of one hundred thousand spindles, at 
the most, secures practically all of the advantages of large scale 
production has tended to encourage united action in ways less 
conspicuous than those followed by the great " trusts." 

In the analysis of combinations in the cotton manufacturing 
industry four classes are to be distinguished, — loose trade 
associations, local associations, amalgamations of several plants, 
and finally integration. 

Associations 

There are two large associations of cotton manufacturers, 
which aim primarily at the improvement of the methods of 
manufacture. The older of these is the National Association 
of Cotton Manufacturers, which had its origin in the Hampden 
County (Mass.) Cotton Spinners' Association, established in 
1854. This became the New England Cotton Manufacturers' 
Association in 1865, and the National Association of Cotton 
Manufacturers in 1906. The benefits which resulted from the 
establishment of the parent association aroused wider and wider 
interest among cotton manufacturers and led to its expansion. 
The membership, which now numbers nearly one thousand, 
is individual, but includes representatives of almost all of the 
cotton manufacturing companies in New England and of many 
companies in other parts of the country. Two meetings are 
held each year, at which papers are presented on topics connected 
with the various phases of the industry. The discussion upon 
these papers furnishes opportunity for an exchange of ideas, 
thus bringing to the attention of the manufacturers new methods 
and recent improvements, and giving them the benefit of the 
experience of others. The papers and discussions are published, 
and in that way made available for all of the members. It is 
impossible to measure the influence which this association has 
had upon the development of the industry during the last fifty 
years, but it must have been by no means small. 



156 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The second large association is the American Cotton Manufac- 
turers' Association which was founded in 1903. This is an 
association primarily of southern cotton manufacturers, its 
purposes and methods being similar to those of the older organiza- 
tion. 1 The knit-goods manufacturers, likewise, in 1905 estab- 
lished the National Association of Hosiery Manufacturers. 

These associations are what might be termed educational. 
Their purpose is to keep their members informed of the progress 
which is taking place in the manufacturing of cotton goods, 
and of the ways in which further improvement can be brought 
about on either the technical or the administrative side. 

The local associations have a different purpose. In this 
class are the Fall River, New Bedford, and Lowell associations 
of local manufacturers. They aim to secure better cooperation 
among the managers of the mills in their respective localities, 
and especially to deal with labor troubles. They have enabled 
united action in preventing strikes and in settling labor disputes. 
The Fall River association reached the highest point by becom- 
ing a party to the sliding scale agreement, according to which 
the wages of the operatives were fixed. To be sure, such an 
agreement was possible only when both employers and employees 
were organized, and the fairly strong labor unions in the Fall 
River cotton mills brought this about. In other localities the 
local associations have succeeded in holding out against such 
a recognition of the operatives' unions, and the weak organ- 
ization or non-organization of the laborers has enabled the 
manufacturers to do more nearly as they pleased. These local 
associations do not include every concern in their respective 
localities, as there are always one or two manufacturers who 
prefer to act independently. For example, Mr. M. C. D. 
Borden, president of the Fall River Iron Works, the largest 
cotton manufacturing plant in Fall River was not a member of 
the local association, and did not cooperate with it. However, 
these associations are strong enough to exercise great influence 

1 In the agitations among the cotton manufacturers in 1909-10 to secure cur- 
tailment because of the high price of cotton, this association took the lead in the 
South. 



ASSOCIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS 1 57 

in the regulation of local questions. They deal with other 
matters besides labor disputes, but the ability to present a solid 
front to the laborers is their primary purpose. 

The next class of associations have a somewhat different 
object. They undertake to adjust output when the market 
is out of balance, and also to follow labor legislation and oppose 
the enactment of new restrictions. In the South there are several 
such associations, — the Southern Hard Yarn Spinners' Associa- 
tion, the Southern Soft Yarn Spinners' Association, the North 
Carolina Cotton Manufacturers' Association, the South Carolina 
Cotton Manufacturers' Association, and, the Georgia Industrial 
Association. The first two of these attempt to secure coopera- 
tion in curtailment of output when the market seems to demand 
it. The others seek to obtain uniform enforcement of the labor 
laws, and to regulate the conditions of labor. They have of 
themselves initiated some reforms, but have also successfully 
opposed the passage of other more stringent laws. 

An older and larger association of this type is the Arkwright 
Club, which was organized in Boston in 1880. The preamble 
to its constitution states that " its purpose is to cultivate social 
intercourse among managers of corporations or private estab- 
lishments manufacturing textile fabrics or machinery, or of 
allied industries, and to promote good understanding and united 
action upon affairs of general interest to these industries. " l 
At first the membership was limited to one hundred, but later 
this restriction was abandoned. The club is a purely voluntary 
association of individuals, and no means are provided for enforc- 
ing recommendations. The members of the club are the treas- 
urers of many of the larger New England cotton mills, and at 
first included chiefly those with their offices in Boston. 

The club meets monthly for a lunch or dinner, and at these 
meetings trade conditions are talked over and recommendations 
as to regulation of output made. Until recently at least, more 
than fifteen or sixteen members have seldom been present at 
one of the meetings, and those who attended have not been 
bound to accept the decisions of the majority. Frequently a 

1 By-Laws of the Arkwright Club, published in 1884. 



158 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

committee has been appointed to communicate with all of the 
members to obtain their views upon a given situation, and to 
attempt to induce them to act together, for instance in restrict- 
ing output. While the organization is thus loose and without 
mandatory power, it has brought the mill treasurers together 
and through social pressure has been able to secure more or less 
general observance of its recommendations. It has also followed 
labor legislation, and opposed further restrictions upon the age 
and sex of the laborers, and upon the hours of labor. 

The club, while continuing to carry out these objects, greatly 
widened the scope of its activities in 1906 by establishing a 
transportation agency. This was a marked step toward greater 
cooperation among New England cotton manufacturers, who had, 
on the whole, acted very independently hitherto. With the new 
undertaking, the membership was also increased l and now the 
club includes all the important cotton mills in New England, 
except those in Connecticut which are engaged chiefly in the 
manufacture of specialties, the thread mills, the mills owned 
by the Knights of Providence, those owned by the Goddards, 
and the Fall River Iron Works. In January, 1909, the number 
of afhliated cotton manufacturing firms was one hundred and 
fourteen. 

This transportation agency, the New England Cotton Freight 
Claim Bureau, is a subordinate organization under the control 
of the Arkwright Club. It was created by the members of the 
club in conjunction with various cotton brokers and buyers in 
Boston, Fall River, New Bedford, and Providence, the brokers 
and buyers giving financial assistance. The objects in the 
creation of this bureau were to concentrate the tracing of cotton 
shipments, to secure the settlement of claims, which had pre- 
viously been done by individual mills, brokers, and buyers, 
and to obtain a better and more complete delivery of cotton 
shipments. It has also enabled the mills to act together in the 
matter of freight rates, especially on coal, and to deal concertedly 
with other problems which arise from time to time. An experi- 
enced railroad man has been employed to direct the work, and 

1 Previously few of the Fall River and New Bedford mills had been affiliated. 



ASSOCIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS 1 59 

the efforts of the agency have already met with success. Several 
favorable adjustments have been made with the railroads. 
The stealing of cotton at points of transhipment has been inves- 
tigated, and the questions of switching charges and changes in 
classification have been taken up. Through this single agency 
these matters can evidently be handled to far greater advantage 
and with much less cost to the mills. 

Its efforts have not ended there, however. It has secured 
a reduction of twenty per cent in " marine insurance " rates, 
that is in rates of transit insurance, the term " marine insurance " 
being applied to insurance on the cotton in transit whether it 
is shipped by water or by rail. Moreover, an arrangement 
with the insurance companies is now pending, whereby these 
companies will annually report their net losses, that is the 
losses over and above what they recover from the railroads, in 
that way furnishing a basis for the adjustment of the rates of 
insurance. Again, steps have been taken toward the buying 
of certain supplies and the selling of waste through the one 
agency. This new branch of the activities of the Arkwright 
Club has already effected important economies for the mills, 
and a further expansion may be expected. The manifestation 
of the spirit of cooperation is significant as it shows how some 
of the benefits of combination can be secured without actual 
amalgamation. 

' The community of interest among New England cotton manu- 
facturers is an important factor to be considered in connection 
with the development of associations for regulating output and 
securing uniformity of policy. The stock of the New England 
cotton mills is in many cases closely held. In a few instances 
the stock of one company is all in the hands of a single family, 
but more frequently a large proportion of the stock is owned 
by the members of a few families. A number of these families 
hold stock in several mills, and a net-work of such inter-relations 
extends over the greater part of the New England cotton manu- 
facturing district. At one point one set of interests comes in 
contact with another set, at the next point with still another, 
and the weaving in and out of these controlling interests makes 
it much easier to secure a uniform policy. 



l6o TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

This community of interest is shown by the connections of 
prominent men with different mills. For example, one man 
may be president of one or two mills, treasurer of another, and 
director of several more; or he may be president of more and 
not treasurer of any; or he may be treasurer of two or even 
three mills. These men are usually connected by birth or 
marriage with several other men in similar positions. This 
community of interest must have had some influence in encourag- 
ing united action in times of emergency. In the South several 
groups are being formed, but as yet there has not been an inter- 
weaving of interests in the southern cotton mills as great as 
that among the cotton mill owners in New England. 

Although the mutual fire insurance companies are alliances for 
a special purpose distinct from that of the other associations 
and combinations, they nevertheless should be mentioned in 
this connection. There are now nineteen companies for the 
mutual insurance of textile factories against loss by fire, the 
first having been organized in 1835. It has proved to be 
more economical for the mills to group together in a mutual 
company than to place their insurance with outside companies. 
The policy holders pay premiums which are estimated approxi- 
mately to cover the losses without yielding a large surplus. No 
capital stock is issued. Each member is liable to assessment to 
five times the amount of his premium, but in practice such assess- 
ments are never necessary. All these companies have joined in 
the support of an Inspection and Adjustment Department, each 
company sharing the expense in proportion to its outstanding 
risk. Inspectors are employed to ascertain the condition and 
protection equipment of each factory insured and to study 
every fire that occurs so as to try to prevent another from arising 
through a similar cause. The result of the organization of these 
companies and their progressive methods has been to reduce 
the cost of insurance from 40 cents per $100 fifty years ago to 
about 8 cents per $100 at the present time. 1 

1 J. R. MacColl, " Factory Mutual Insurance in America," Report of the 6th 
International Congress of Master Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Associations 
(Milan, 1909), pp. 159-160. 



ASSOCIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS l6l 

Amalgamations 

Another form of combination, next in order after the loose 
associations which seek to promote the general interests of their 
members, is the amalgamation of competing establishments. 
There are, in general, two purposes for which amalgamation 
may be brought about. The first is economy in manufacture 
or distribution, and is, therefore, analogous to increasing the 
scale of production. The other aims at securing a monopolis- 
tic control whereby prices may be fixed. The success of amalga- 
mation for the former purpose depends upon the economies to 
be gained from a further increase in the size of the units, for the 
latter upon the possibility of securing control of supplies of raw 
material, or of methods and machinery, whereby it may restrict 
the rise of competitors. 

Local amalgamations, as for instance the absorption of neigh- 
boring concerns by the Amoskeag Company of Manchester, 
have occasionally been formed. And in the South there have 
recently been two large combinations, apparently for the purpose 
of securing economies in selling. One of these, the Parker 
group, was said in 191 1 to have merged nine mills, operating 
357,952 spindles. The other group, controlled by the Cannon 
interests, comprises twelve mills in North Carolina, with 288,500 
spindles and 3,734 looms. Aside from these mergers, there have 
been four prominent examples of amalgamation in the cotton 
manufacturing industry in the United States, — the Consoli- 
dated Cotton Duck Company, the New England Cotton Yarn 
Company, the United States Finishing Company, and the 
American Thread Company. 

The Consolidated Cotton Duck Company had its origin l 
in the formation of the Mount Vernon- Woodberry Cotton Duck 
Company of Baltimore in 1899. This was a combination of 
seven firms, owning fourteen mills. The company was capital- 
ized at $9,500,000, and was authorized to issue five per cent 
first mortgage bonds to the amount of $8,000,000, and five per 
cent income bonds to the amount of $6,000,000. All the stock 

1 Commercial and Financial Chronicle, vol. lxix, p. 129. 



l62 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

was issued and also $13,000,000 of the bonds, the remainder 
being reserved for the acquisition of new properties. In 1901 
the United States Cotton Duck Corporation was organized to 
take over the control of the Mount Vernon- Woodberry Com- 
pany and to absorb the Stark Mills in New Hampshire and two 
mills in Georgia. 1 The object of this absorption was to eliminate 
serious competition in sail duck. At this time the Stark Mills 
were increasing their output of duck, although even then it con- 
stituted but one- third of their total product. The Baltimore 
combination especially felt the competition from this source 
and accordingly made an offer to the shareholders of the Stark 
company to buy their stock at fifty per cent more than its par 
value. The offer was accepted, and the new United States 
Cotton Duck Corporation assumed control. At the same 
time two southern mills were purchased. These southern mills 
continued to be engaged in the production of duck, but the 
Stark Mills were not changed over to the manufacture of duck 
entirely; in fact the quantity of duck turned out at that plant 
rather tended to diminish in favor of other goods. The strain 
of the competition, however, was removed. 

The combination, in the next place, closed some of its plants. 
In 1902 the small mill in Hartford, Connecticut, was shut down, 2 
and in 1903 three small mills in Maryland were closed and the 
machinery transferred to the larger Maryland mills. 3 

During the first five years of its existence the Mount Vernon 
Company paid good dividends, but in 1905 a reorganization 
became necessary. 4 Up to this time the Mount Vernon- Wood- 
berry Cotton Duck Company, although controlled by the United 
States Cotton Duck Corporation, had maintained a separate 
corporate existence. The latter company owned $9,031,000 
of the $9,500,000 common stock of the former, and in addition 
owned the Stark Mills and the two southern mills. There were 
outstanding at this time the following securities, — the Mount 
Vernon- Woodberry Company's common stock, $9,500,000; its 

1 Commercial and Financial Chronicle, vol. lxxii, p. 992. 

2 Ibid., vol. lxxv, p. 295. 

8 Ibid., vol. Ixxvi, p. 1038. 
4 Ibid., vol. lxxx, p. 1916. 



ASSOCIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS l6$ 

first mortgage bonds, $8,420,000; and its income bonds, $6,000,- 
000; the United States Company's preferred stock, $2,750,000, 
and its common stock, $10,000,000. This made a total of 
$36,670,000. According to the plans of reorganization this 
total capitalization was to be reduced to $21,420,000. For 
each $1000 of the Mount Vernon-Woodberry Company's income 
bonds the holders were to receive $500 preferred stock and 
$i66| common stock in the new company. For each $1000 of 
the preferred stock of the United States Corporation the holders 
were to receive $1000 preferred and $72 7 T 3 T common stock in the 
new company. And for each $1000 of common stock in the 
United States company the holders were to receive $400 common 
stock. Thus the holders of the income bonds of the Mount 
Vernon-Woodberry Company received new securities to two- 
thirds of the par value of the old securities. The common 
stock of that company was practically all owned by one of the 
consolidating companies; hence no provision for its exchange 
was made. The holders of the preferred stock of the United 
States Corporation received new securities of a par value seventy- 
three per cent greater, in fact a bonus of seventy-three per cent 
in the common stock of the new company. But the common 
stock of the United States Corporation was exchanged for new 
stock of only forty per cent of its par value. Thus the new 
company, the Consolidated Cotton Duck Company as it was 
called, had a capitalization of $13,000,000, including $6,000,000 
six per cent cumulative preferred stock and $7,000,000 common 
stock. It had no bonded debt of its own, but had assumed 
responsibility for the $8,420,000 first mortgage bonds of the 
Mount Vernon-Woodberry Company. 

The reasons for the adjustment of the scale of exchange are 
not apparent, nor do they especially concern us here. The 
important point for us is that it was necessary to squeeze some 
of the water out of the stock of the original companies. The 
objects of the reorganization were stated by the officials in 
charge to be a more conservative capitalization, less taxation, 
and more unified management whereby the work could be 
distributed to better advantage. This reduction of capitaliza- 



164 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

tion is significant as showing that the combination did not bring 
as great advantages as had been anticipated; no great saving 
had resulted. Later, in order that it might control the market- 
ing of its product, the Consolidated Cotton Duck Company 
purchased the entire capital stock of the J. Spencer Turner 
Company of New York, 1 one of the largest dealers in cotton 
duck. 

A second reorganization was deemed necessary in 19 10. 
The object was set forth by the directors in the following words. 
" Recognizing that increased selling arrangements are essential 
to the best results in the disposal of our products, we are making 
arrangements whereby the admirable selling organization of 
the Boston Yarn Company will, in conjunction with the J. 
Spencer Turner Company, handle the product of our mills and 
the Turner Company will handle, in conjunction with the 
Boston Yarn Company, the sales products controlled by the 
latter." 2 To this end the International Cotton Mills Cor- 
poration was incorporated in New York in July, 1910, 3 with 
$20,000,000 authorized capital stock, consisting of $10,000,000 
seven per cent cumulative preferred and $10,000,000 common 
stock. The properties comprised those of the Consolidated 
Cotton Duck Company, the three mills controlled by the Boston 
Yarn Company, one other mill in Massachusetts, and two in 
Canada. This gave the new corporation the control of twenty- 
two mills and two selling houses, manufacturing and distribut- 
ing about 3,000 varieties of cotton fabrics. 

The reason for this new move was the hope of securing better 
financial results. The Consolidated Cotton Duck Company 
had not been able to pay dividends on its common stock and 
for the four years ending in 1909 had averaged only four and 
three-quarters per cent on its preferred stock, while in 1909-10 
a deficit was incurred. 4 Moderately successful in the period 
of brisk business, it could not withstand the tribulations of 
depression. 

1 Commercial and Financial Chronicle, vol. lxxxii, p. 336. 

2 Ibid., vol. xc, p. 844. 

3 Ibid., vol. xci, p. 279. 4 Ibid., vol. xc, p. 845. 



ASSOCIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS 1 65 

What was the significance of the formation of this combina- 
tion ? In the first place, it was an important factor only in 
the sail duck trade. The Census of 1900, speaking of the early 
combination, said that it produced " a considerable part of the sail 
duck made in the country." l In the Commercial and Financial 
Chronicle it was stated 2 at the time the first combination was 
formed that its plants produced ninety per cent of all the cotton 
duck manufactured in the United States. But that statement 
could have referred to sail duck only, as can be ascertained 
from the Census returns. In 1900 all the plants owned by the 
combination were located in Maryland, and that state produced 
8,510,148 yards of sail duck in that year, or seventy- two per cent 
of the total of 11,750,151 yards manufactured in the whole 
country. But sail duck was only one-tenth of the total produc- 
tion of cotton duck in the United States, the total quantity of 
other duck being 117,583,925 yards. Hence the combination 
controlled but a small proportion of the duck trade. Moreover, 
it was subject to potential competition from the other mills 
which could change over to the manufacture of sail duck if the 
combination attempted to raise prices. The strength of the 
combination lay chiefly in its control over popular brands of 
sail duck. 

The absorption of the two selling companies is significant 
of a change in purpose. At first the combination evidently 
sought to control a certain branch of the duck trade. It desired 
monopoly power and hoped to obtain this in part by what 
amounted to an increase in the scale of production. Competi- 
tion, however, could not be eliminated and substantial econo- 
mies in production were not forthcoming. As a result, econo- 
mies in selling became the aim. But up to the present time 
there has been so great saving from that source. One must 
conclude that the costs of combination, the speculative element, 
and overcapitalization have exerted a detrimental influence 
on the success of the undertaking. At all events, the combina- 
tion is by no means an exceptionally important factor in the 

1 1 2th U. S. Census, vol. ix, p. 31. 

2 Commercial and Financial Chronicle, vol. lxix, p. 129. 



l66 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

cotton manufacturing industry of the United States. Perhaps 
the greatest significance of its history is the object lesson to 
would-be promoters of combinations in this line of industry. 

The New England Cotton Yarn Company was incorporated 
in 1899 under the laws of New Jersey. 1 It was a consolidation 
of nine plants, four in New Bedford, three in Fall River and two 
in Taunton, operating at that time 588,400 spindles. The com- 
pany was authorized to issue $6,500,000 five per cent bonds and 
$11,500,000 stock, — $6,500,000 seven per cent cumulative pre- 
ferred and $5,000,000 common. The estimated cost of replace- 
ment of the plants was $10,700,000, and additional assets 
amounted to $2,300,000, making a total of $13,000,000. Thus 
the par value of the bonds and preferred stock combined was 
just equal to the estimated value of the plants and other assets. 
The common stock represented water. Of the amounts author- 
ized, $5,577,000 bonds, $5,000,000 preferred stock, and all the 
common stock were issued. 

In 1903 a reorganization of the company was made, since the 
venture had proved financially disappointing and it seemed 
advisable to reduce the capitalization. According to the plan 
of reorganization 2 the bonded debt was not disturbed. But 
the $5,000,000 of seven per cent cumulative preferred stock 
was reduced to $2,000,000 six per cent non-cumulative, pre- 
ferred, and the $5,000,000 common stock to $3,900,000. At 
the same time the company was re-incorporated under the 
laws of Massachusetts. 

After the reorganization the combination made several changes 
in its property. In 1903 the small plant of the North Dighton 
Company was stripped and the machinery removed to the 
other mills. 3 In 1905 the Canoe River Mills at Taunton were 
purchased, 4 and the property of the Lambeth Rope Company 
acquired. 5 In 1907 a box factory at Rochester, New Hamp- 
shire, was purchased in order to avoid difficulty in securing a 

1 Commercial and Financial Chronicle, vol. lxix, p. 28. 

2 Ibid., vol. lxxvii, p. 40. 

3 Ibid., vol. lxxiii, p. 443. 

4 Ibid., vol. lxxxi, p. 1608. 
6 Ibid., p. 617. 



ASSOCIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS 1 67 

supply of boxes. 1 Other property was bought, new mills con- 
structed, and earnings invested in improvements, thus rendering 
the properties more valuable than at the time of consolidation. 

Whatever success the New England Cotton Yarn Company 
achieved was due to efficient management. When the company 
was first organized, the following statement was given out. 
" All the officers of the new company are of the opinion that 
large reductions will be made in the cost of production when 
all the mills are operated as one concern." 2 But as the neces- 
sity for reorganization showed, the savings were less than antic- 
ipated, and it was only after a more conservative policy was 
adopted that the business became profitable. The success 
which was attained was the result of good administration, 
not of monopoly. The company produced yarn for sale to 
hosiery mills and to weaving mills which were temporarily unable 
to supply their own needs. There were other yarn mills, how- 
ever, particularly in the South, and also several spinning and 
weaving mills which sold more or less yarn. Hence this com- 
pany had little control over the price of yarn. Like the duck 
combination, the New England Cotton Yarn Company was 
forced to re-organize, to squeeze some of the water out of its 
stock. Similarly it was not able to secure a monopolistic advan- 
tage, and only by returning to a sound business basis, by reduc- 
ing the amount of outstanding securities, and by turning earnings 
into improvements of the plants and the acquisition of supple- 
mentary concerns could it succeed. 

Although the New England Cotton Yarn Company is still 
in existence, it gave up its individuality in 19 10 by becoming 
part of a still larger combination. In that year the property 
of the company was leased to the Union Mills of New York, 
a group of knitting mills, for ninety-nine years at a fixed rental 
of six per cent on the preferred and seven and one-half per cent 
on the common stock. The lessees also agreed to pay annually 
$57,810 to be applied to the redemption of outstanding mortgage 
bonds, and to set aside annually $231,240 for the maintenance of 

1 Commercial and Financial Chronicle, vol. lxxxv, p. 1338. 

2 Ibid., vol. lxix, p. 81. 



l68 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

the property of the yarn company or further redemption of its 
bonds. The Union Mills also received the right to consolidate 
its properties with those of the yarn company. Hence the New- 
England Cotton Yarn Company has now become part of an 
integrated knitting combination. 

The third amalgamation in the cotton manufacturing industry 
of the United States, the United States Finishing Company, 
was also formed in 1899. This was a consolidation of the 
Norwich Bleaching, Dyeing, and Printing Company at Nor- 
wich, Connecticut, the Dunnell Manufacturing Company at 
Pawtucket, and the Reid and Barry Company at Passaic, 
New Jersey. 1 Later acquisitions have been as follows: in 1901 
the plant of the Sterling Dyeing and Finishing Company at 
Sterling, Connecticut, in 1903 the plant of the Silver Spring 
Bleaching and Dyeing Company at Providence, in 1907 con- 
trol of the Apponaug Print Works at Apponaug, Rhode Island, 
and in 1909 the Queen Dyeing Company of Providence. 2 At 
this last date the combination, which employed over 3,000 
workmen, was capitalized at $6,000,000, half preferred and half 
common stock. Its accumulated surplus was $2,240,993, 
thus showing that it had been financially successful. 

The company finishes other kinds of cloth as well as that 
made of cotton; hence its total output does not represent 
exclusively cotton goods. In fact it does not finish one-quarter 
of the total quantity of cotton goods produced in the United 
States. The combined output of the Sayles Bleachery, the 
Fall River Bleachery, and the Lowell Bleachery equals that of 
the bleaching departments of the United States Finishing 
Company. The American Printing Company of Fall River 
equals it in quantity of cloth printed. And there are other 
finishing plants in the country besides these. Hence the United 
States Finishing Company has no monopoly. Its plants are 
smaller than those of the other companies mentioned. Its 
specialty is the finishing of fine goods on commission. This 
combination can be placed in the same class as the duck company 

1 Commercial and Financial Chronicle, vol. lxxxi, p. 1435. 

2 Ibid., vol. lxxxviii, p. 1377. 



ASSOCIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS 1 69 

and the yarn company. It is essentially strong in a single 
class of work, but has no power to fix monopolistic prices. 

The American Thread Company, like the three other combina- 
tions described, produces a specialty. It affects only a single 
small branch of the cotton manufacturing industry. Unlike 
the others, however, it controls a large percentage of the total 
output, and, furthermore, has international connections. The 
company was organized in 1898 to take over the operation of 
fourteen plants engaged in the manufacture of spool cotton. 1 
Its object, as stated before the Industrial Commission, was 
" to unite the business of the manufacture of spool, crochet, 
knitting, mending, and other cottons, including the allied busi- 
nesses of cotton spinning, doubling, twisting, dyeing, bleaching, 
polishing, and spool making." The consolidating firms were 
the most important in the industry, including such well known 
establishments as the Willimantic, Kerr, Hadley, Merrick, and 
Clark Mills. Since its formation several of the small plants 
have been closed and the manufacture concentrated in the 
larger mills. The company was authorized to issue $6,000,000 
in bonds, $6,000,000 in five per cent preferred stock, and 
$6,000,000 in common stock. All the bonds and $4,890,475 
of the preferred stock, fully paid up, were issued, and $4,200,000 
of the common stock on which seventy per cent was paid in. 2 

The company was organized by a representative of the Eng- 
lish Sewing Cotton Company, 3 and all the common stock is held 
by that company. 4 Moreover all the voting power is vested 
in the common stock holders, 5 so that the English company 
has absolute control. In 1901 it was stated that the company 
controlled one-third of the total cotton thread production in 
the United States, 6 But the Coats company controlled another 
third, and the Coats company is closely allied with the Eng- 
lish Sewing Cotton Company through holdings of stock. Hence 

1 Industrial Commission, Report, vol. xiii, p. 343. 

2 Commercial and Financial Chronicle, vol. lxxxv, p. 525. 

3 Industrial Commission, Report, vol. xiii, p. 343. 

4 Commercial and Financial Chronicle, vol. lxxix, p. 153. 
6 Industrial Commission, Report, vol. xiii, p. 343. 

8 Ibid., p. 343. 



170 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

these two companies together control two-thirds of the output 
and dominate the cotton thread market in the United States, 
just as in England. 

The American Thread Company has paid good dividends. 
In the year ending in 1900 the dividend on the common stock 
was ten per cent, 1901 ten per cent, 1902 none, 1903 four per cent, 
1904 sixteen per cent, 1905 eight per cent, 1906 fourteen per cent, 
1909 four per cent, 19 10 fifteen per cent. The rate of dividends 
for 1906-07 and 1907-08 was not published, but inasmuch as the 
year ending in 1907 was a very prosperous one for all branches 
of the cotton industry, it can be surmised that the thread com- 
pany paid high dividends in that year, perhaps too high to 
announce publicly. These dividends, it should be remembered, 
were in addition to the five per cent on the preferred stock, 
and were paid on stock of which only seventy per cent of the 
par value had been paid in. This combination has at least 
not been a financial failure, and it is possible that some monop- 
oly profit is included in the fairly high dividends, which, during 
the nine years for which we have information, averaged nine 
per cent on the par value of the common stock, and twelve and 
nine-tenths per cent on the amount paid in on that stock. 

The amalgamations have resulted in gain in so far as they 
have improved their methods of production or of distribution. 
As has already been indicated, the limits to a profitable increase 
in the scale of production are relatively inelastic, 1 but some 
economies in marketing have doubtless resulted. The formation 
of the amalgamations here discussed has been facilitated by the 
small number of units to be included and the comparatively 
small amount of capital involved, but, with the possible excep- 
tion of the thread company, they were not able to gain much 
of a monopolistic advantage. 

In the history of the cotton manufacturing industry, taken 
as a whole, amalgamation has as yet played a small part. The 
relatively slight advantages to be gained from further increase 
in the scale of production would be more than offset by the 
difficulties attending any attempt at wholesale amalgamation. 
1 See ante, p. 141. 



ASSOCIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS 17 1 

These difficulties lie in the immense amount of capital involved, 
the number of mills distributed over a wide area, and the prob- 
able unwillingness of the large stockholders in many of the most 
successful concerns to take part. Nor would it be an easy mat- 
ter to maintain a monopoly, since the supply of raw material 
could hardly be controlled, and processes could not be kept 
secret with the present mobility of labor. Potential competi- 
tion, both at home and abroad, would restrict any attempt at 
monopolistic manipulation of prices. The Arkwright Club and 
some of the lesser associations, as well as community of interest, 
are securing adjustment to supplies of raw material, while some 
economies in selling are being obtained by integration. 

Integration 

There is yet another type of combination in the cotton manu- 
facturing industry, namely integration. As it is of very recent 
development, it is impossible to determine definitely the extent to 
which it has proceeded, or to forecast the extent to which it will 
proceed. Even in the existing amalgamations, involving pri- 
marily the combining of coordinate, competing units, there has 
often been more or less integration, or the combining of supple- 
mentary branches, as, for example, the purchase of the box 
factory by the New England Cotton Yarn Company. But in 
addition to these instances, we find a distinct tendency toward 
integration. It appears in various stages of progress, and is 
complete in few cases. It consists in the bringing together of 
several establishments, perhaps producing the same grade of 
goods, perhaps producing different grades, under a single man- 
agement, with a single selling agency, and with its own finishing 
plant. Its object is not so much the dimination of competi- 
tion, as the securing of economies through the control of sup- 
plementary branches and particularly in buying and selling. 

Its most significant feature, possibly, is the position which 
the agency for marketing the goods assumes. In some cases 
the selling house is the leader in promoting the combination, 
in others an old selling house has been absorbed, and in still 
others a new selling agency established. 



172 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

In the first class, where the selling house has been the leader, 
we include the groups of mills controlled by several of the large 
selling houses of Boston and New York. An example of this is 
the recent formation of a syndicate by Deering, Milliken & Co., 
commission agents, for the purchase of the Garner Print Works 
in the state of New York, these works to be used for converting 
cloth produced in southern mills controlled by the selling house. 
Similarly, other large selling houses control many of the mills 
for which they act as agents. They do not always control a 
converting plant, but that is unnecessary in the case of mills 
which finish their own cloth, and which constitute a large pro- 
portion of the concerns employing selling agents. 

The best illustration of the absorption of a selling house by 
the mills is the purchase of the Turner Company by the Con- 
solidated Cotton Duck Ccmpany, to which reference has already 
been made. There are probably other instances, which have 
not been made public, where control of the selling house was 
secured as soon as the mills were strong enough financially. 

The establishment of a private selling agency is well illustrated 
by the concern of B. B. & R. Knight of Providence. This 
company has four mills in Massachusetts, and thirteen mills, a 
print works, and a bleachery in Rhode Island. The head office 
is in Providence and has combined with it a selling department. 
The company controls more than 500,000 spindles and 12,000 
looms. The greater part of the product is sheetings, especially 
fine sheetings, but shirtings, twills, and other fabrics are also 
manufactured in smaller quantities. The Fall River Iron 
Works and the American Printing company are largely owned 
by Mr. M. C. D. Borden, and within a year the selling of the 
product has been takeri over by M. C. D. Borden & Sons, of 
New York. A similar example is furnished by the Sayles in- 
terests, which control the Lorraine Manufacturing Company 
and a bleachery and dye-works, and have their own selHng 
office in New York. The Cannon Mills Company, also, has 
established an office in New York where it sells the product 
of its North Carolina mills. 



ASSOCIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS 1 73 

This movement of integration has assumed more importance 
within the last five years. The causes are, in general, those 
which have stimulated combination in all parts of the industrial 
world, and in particular the necessity for perfecting the mer- 
chandizing organization, the desire of the selling house to justify 
its existence, and the narrowing of the margin between the cost 
of raw material and the selling price of the cloth. The funda- 
mental cause, the one into which practically all of the others 
can be resolved, is keen competition arising from the increase 
in the size of the establishments and the growth of the cotton 
manufacturing industry in the South. 

The narrowing of the margin between the cost of raw materials 
and the selling price of the product reflects the stress of the 
competition. Throughout the ten year period from 1896 to 
1906 the margin, although fluctuating more or less, as the 
accompanying chart shows, was constantly below the lowest 
level hitherto reached. The method used in this chart for 
ascertaining the margin is that adopted in Fall River as the 
basis for fixing the sliding wage scale. It is the difference 
between the cost of eight pounds of middling cotton and the 
average selling price of forty-five yards of 28-inch, 64 x 64 print 
cloth and of thirty-three and eleven one-hundredths yards of 
38J-inch, 64 x 64 print cloth. 1 While open to the criticism that 
may be directed against any average or index, it nevertheless 
seems to bear out the statement frequently made by manufac- 
turers that the margin had been unusually low during the last 
ten years. Its upward leap in the year 1907 was due to the 
great boom preceding the panic. Although the data submitted 
cover only the period since 1881, one may safely say, in view 
of the reduction of the costs of production during that time, 
that previously the margin was never as low. This has stimu- 
lated the introduction of economies in manufacturing and in 
management, and has started this movement to economize in 
selling, either by direct sales or through closer relation of the 
selling agency to the manufacturing branch. 

1 Tables of prices are given in the appendix. 



174 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The expansion of this form of combination is limited by the 
extent to which goods are sold through selling agents. As will 
be pointed out in a later chapter, the practice of selling direct 
is fully as common as the employment of a selling house, and 
the latter is not especially favored by the trade in general. 
It seems probable, therefore, that a large proportion of the 
industry will not be included, for. the present at least, in any 
of these integrated groups. 

The possible ramifications of the movement for integration, 
however, are suggested by the formation of the United Dry 
Goods Company. 1 This is a holding company, organized 
May 21, 1909. At its head is Mr. John Claflin, President of 
the H. B. Claflin Company, one of the largest dry goods jobbing 
houses in the country. The United Dry Goods Company 
acquired from the Associated Merchants Company, an older 
Claflin combination dating from 1901, the control of the follow- 
ing stores, — H. B. Claflin Co. (wholesale); James McCreery & 
Co., New York (two stores); O'Neil-Adams Co., New York; 
Stewart & Co., Baltimore; J. N. Adams & Co., Buffalo; and 
four-fifths of the common stock of C. G. Gunther's Sons, New 
York (furs). In addition, from Mr. Claflin it purchased out- 
right Hahne & Co., Newark; Powers Mercantile Co., Minnea- 
polis; William Hengerer Co., Buffalo; and the Stewart Dry 
Goods Company of Louisville. Mr. Claflin is also said to control 
stores in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Spokane, Seattle, 
Butte, Denver, Augusta, and other cities. 2 In 19 10 a control- 
ling interest in the long established firm of Lord & Taylor (New 
York) was purchased. The company has been conservatively 
capitalized, and has been assisted in its financial dealings by 
J. P. Morgan & Co. of New York. 

The H. B. Claflin Company is the link which connects this 
chain of retail stores with the cotton manufacturing industry. 
And it controls the Defender Manufacturing Company of New 
York, which manufactures sheets, pillow cases, muslin under- 
wear, and other products. This may be the beginning of a 

1 Commercial and Financial Chronicle, vol. lxxxviii, p. 1377. 

2 Ibid., vol. lxxxvii, p. 547. 



























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Margin between the 

Price of Cloth and the 

Price of Raw Cotton 
































































































































































































































































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ASSOCIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS 1 75 

complete combination for the manufacturing and marketing of 
cotton goods on a great scale, but, on the other hand, it may 
represent merely an effort to ward off difficulties such as numer- 
ous jobbing houses have recently been experiencing. The very 
magnitude of such schemes makes it unsafe to speculate as to 
their possible extension. 

The recent purchase of cotton mills by Marshall Field & Co., 
the big Chicago house, is another application of the principle 
of integration, the retail house in this instance invading the 
manufacturing field. The mills thus acquired in 1910 include 
several cotton factories and a finishing plant, all located at 
Spray, North Carolina. Previously the same company had 
established a lace factory. 

The need for greater cooperation between the manufacturing 
and the mercantile branches has been the chief stimulus to 
integration in the American cotton industry. If has manifested 
itself in diverse directions since it first appeared, and no one 
can anticipate where it will end. It has an advantage in that 
each mill generally retains its separate corporate existence and 
is permitted a large amount of individual action, while at the 
same time it is subject to a central authority. The success of 
the whole is not endangered by the weakness of a single part. 
There is no new incorporation, and no issue of watered stock. 
The control is through holdings of stock in the constituent 
companies and has made it possible to pursue a more consistent 
policy. Amalgamation, as we have seen, has played a compara- 
tively unimportant part, because of the inelastic limits to the 
advantageous increase in the scale of production, the difficulties 
in the way of carrying through an amalgamation at all com- 
prehensive, and the obstacles to the securing of a monopoly. 
Loose associations and, especially, the Arkwright Club are prob- 
ably the most important, since they are obtaining adjustments 
to supplies of raw material, dealing with freight rates, and 
providing means for common action in other matters. 



CHAPTER X 

THE RAW COTTON MARKET 

The commercial organization, to which we next turn our 
attention, has various aspects. The first section, which is taken 
up in this chapter, is concerned with the purchase of the raw 
materials, the second with the sale of the product, the third with 
the export trade, and the last with the import trade. 
v Practically all of the cotton mills in the United States are 
in the hands of incorporated companies, with the ordinary forms 
of corporate organization. But, as a rule, the president of a 
cotton manufacturing company merely presides at the meetings 
of the directors without taking an active part in the manage- 
ment of the mill. The active member of the board of directors, 
the man who is the highest authority, is the treasurer. The 
treasurer assumes the responsibility for the management of 
the business. All the officials in the mill are responsible to him, 
directly or indirectly, and to him the stockholders look for their 
dividends. If the mill is not financially successful, the blame 
falls on the treasurer. This official leaves to his agent or super- 
intendent the practical management of the mill itself, the inside 
work as it is called, while he attends to the outside work, the 
buying of supplies and the selling of the goods. 

The duties assumed by the treasurer of a cotton mill are not 
identical in all centres or in all establishments. They depend 
upon whether or not he is treasurer of more than one mill, and 
whether the goods are sold direct or through selling agents. 
This variation can best be shown by a comparison of the prac- 
tices in different localities. In Fall River and New Bedford 
the treasurer usually has his office at the mill. He buys the 
supplies, and in a majority of the mills sells the goods himself, 
that is he receives the orders from the customers and fixes the 
terms of sale. Few men are treasurers of more than one mill 

each in that section of New England. 

176 



THE RAW COTTON MARKET 1 77 

The treasurers of cotton mills located in other parts of New 
England usually have their offices in Boston. They purchase 
most of the supplies for their mills, but the product is, in a ma- 
jority of cases, sold through a selling house, so that the treasurer 
merely exercises an oversight and collects the bills. Frequently 
one man is treasurer of two or even three " Boston " mills. 
In other instances, where the mills are controlled by a selling 
house, a member of that firm acts as treasurer, part of his duties 
of direction being cared for by a special department in the 
merchandizing establishment. In the South the president 
may be the active head of a cotton manufacturing company 
and employ a low salaried man to attend to the routine work 
of a treasurer; he may even perform the duties of treasurer in 
addition to his own if the mill is small. With these exceptions 
the distribution of the responsibility in southern corporations 
resembles the northern practice. There are southern mills 
the treasurers of which are members of northern selling firms, 
and others where the treasurers each direct several mills. But 
the management of many southern mills is directed by a treas- 
urer who has no official connection with any other mill, just as 
in New England. 

If the treasurer has his office at the mill and is in constant 
touch with it, the official who has charge of the inside work is 
usually called a superintendent. That official becomes an 
agent, however, if the treasurer's office is located in another 
city. Yet this distinction is not a fine one and has little value 
inasmuch as exceptions are numerous, and in either case the 
duties of the man in charge of the practical operation of the 
factory are much the same. Although the degree of respon- 
sibility varies, greater responsibility is placed on the agent if 
the treasurer does not have his office at the mill. The duties 
of the superintendent are to manage the actual working of the 
mill. The subordinates report to him, and the treasurer expects 
him to account for any falling off in the quality or the quantity 
of the product. If several mills are combined in one plant 
the superintendent is aided by one or more assistant superin- 
tendents. 



178 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Both the treasurer and the agent or superintendent are institu- 
tions practically as old as the American cotton manufacturing 
industry, and the elimination of neither is to be expected. How- 
ever, the duties of the treasurer may undergo a change. At 
the present time the treasurers of some mills seem to be coming 
into closer contact with the actual operation of their plants 
and thus assuming part of the duties hitherto left to the agents. 
On the other hand, several selling houses, which control the 
mills that they represent, have established special departments 
to direct the management of the various plants, while members 
of the firms are made the nominal treasurers of the mills. In 
this way expenses are reduced. Yet the larger concerns manu- 
facturing on an extensive scale can give full employment to 
both a treasurer and an agent and the volume of production can 
bear the overhead expense. With this statement of the distri- 
bution of responsibilities in mind we can proceed to our analysis 
of the commercial organization. 

Two classes of supplies are purchased for a cotton mill. The 
first includes machinery, repair goods, and other materials 
bought in small quantities. The second is the raw cotton, by 
far the more important of the two. 

The purchases of repair goods and incidentals, such as sizing 
materials, oil, and ring travellers, are usually made by the agent 
or superintendent. When a large order for new machinery is 
given, the treasurer transacts the business, but such purchases 
are made only at infrequent intervals. For receiving and dispos- 
ing of the current supplies of this sort a separate supply depart- 
ment has been established in the larger and more progressive 
mills. In it is kept a record of all supplies received and given 
out, thereby ascertaining the requisitions from the separate 
departments so as to prevent continued abnormal use of materials 
in any one department. The management may limit the amount 
of supplies to be issued to one overseer within a certain time. 
If no such limit is set, an excessive demand on the supply depart- 
ment is investigated. Economy is thus fostered among the over- 
seers and the determination of the distribution of the expense 
burden facilitated. 



THE RAW COTTON MARKET 1 79 

The purchase of the raw cotton constitutes one of the most 
important duties of the treasurer. The market in which he buys 
is highly organized. Because of its magnitude and the impor- 
tance of the interests affected, this market will be described in 
detail. 

The cotton crop of the United States averaged 1,749,400,000 
pounds per year from 1856 to i860 and 6,157,200,000 pounds per 
year in 1906-10. The quantity taken by the American mills 
was 414,800,000 pounds, or 23.7 per cent of the total, during 
the former period, and 2,277,600,000 pounds, or 37 per cent, 
during the last quinquennium. Hence in spite of the continual 
increase in the size of the crop, a larger and larger proportion 
has been retained in this country. The development of the 
American cotton manufacturing industry, therefore, has rendered 
the domestic market relatively more important. 

Separating the numerous grades of cotton broadly into the 
two classes of long staple and short staple, the latter predomi- 
nates quantitatively whereas the former is of superior quality 
since it can be employed for spinning finer yarns. In addition 
to their purchases of Sea Island cotton and the long staple fibre 
from the Mississippi Valley, the American spinners also import 
some of the high grade Egyptian cotton. Three-fourths of the 
long staple cotton consumed in the United States is manufac- 
tured in New England where a majority of the fine goods mills 
are located. 

Our short staple or upland cotton supplies the greater part 
of the demand, however, not only in this country but abroad. 
It varies in length and strength of fibre, in color and in freedom 
from dirt, and possesses characteristics peculiar to the locality 
in which it is grown. With the machinery and methods in vogue 
a century ago " cotton was cotton," but, as a result of refine- 
ments in technique and diversification of product, nowadays 
the spinner must give careful attention to the exact quality of 
the cotton which he purchases. 

The northern mills, to discuss the manufacturing regions 
separately, buy their cotton through cotton merchants. These 
merchants have offices in the large northern cities and agents 



l8o THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

in the important mill centres. A few of them also have branches 
in Europe. They obtain the cotton through buyers located in 
the cotton growing section and at the shipping points in the 
South. The sale to the mill treasurer is consummated on the 
basis of samples made up by taking several handfuls of cotton 
from each bale, the samples being submitted for inspection. If 
the cotton on delivery proves to be of a lower grade than the 
sample, the merchant makes restitution to the purchaser. The 
spinner, to safeguard his interests, generally employs an expert 
to test all cotton received at the mill, since the protection against 
the loss that would result from the substitution of an inferior 
grade offsets the extra expense. A contract, calling for delivery 
either of the total quantity at one specified date or by monthly 
instalments, may be entered into at any time during the year, 
but the greatest activity in the purchasing of raw cotton is in 
the months from October to January. At that period the New 
England mills provide for future needs, purchasing supplemen- 
tary supplies in steadily diminishing amounts during the ensuing 
months. The new crop begins to come upon the market in 
September, and the bulk of it is picked during the next four 
months, thus becoming available for delivery to the mills. The 
manufacturers of the highest grades ordinarily buy at an early 
date a larger proportion of their total supply than those using 
ordinary staple. The former wish to exercise a wider choice in 
their selection and also to make sure of an adequate quantity. 
The demand for long staple cotton is frequently so great that 
the manufacturer who delays is unable to obtain the quality 
which he desires, or can secure it only at a very high price. 

The spinner of common grades gauges his purchases according 
to the course of the market; he buys early or late according to 
his judgment of the f avorableness of price quotations. However, 
he usually obtains a large quantity during the harvesting season. 
The following averages, computed from Shepperson's Cotton 
Facts, indicate the takings by northern mills. 



THE RAW COTTON MARKET l8l 

Average Monthly Takings of Raw Cotton by Northern Spinners 

{For the years ending August 31) 

1881-1884 igo8-ioio 

Thousand Bales Percentage Thousand Bales Percentage ' 

September 72 4.3 102 4.4 

October 211 12.6 284 12.3 

November 310 18.6 422 18.3 

December 291 17.4 325 14. 1 

January 199 11. 9 287 12.4 

February 134 8. 219 9.5 

March 126 7.6 160 7. 

April 102 6.1 136 5.9 

May 82 4.9 124 5.3 

June, July, August 144 8.6 250 10.8 

Total 1671 100 2309 100 

The amount taken during the season is slightly lower at the 
present time than thirty years ago. Yet at both dates about 
one-half of their year's supply was taken by the northern mills 
before January first, and over sixty per cent before February 
first. 

Prior to i860 it was likewise customary for the New England 
spinners to purchase their stock of raw material early, 1 and in 
1872 it was stated in the report of the Boston Board of Trade 2 
that " in most years four-fifths of the cotton supply was bought 
for the mills in the first five months after the crop began to come 
in, and usually one-half was taken by January first, or within 
the first three months of crop movement." The practices of 
1872 and 1910, therefore, show a fairly close correspondence. 

The cotton is shipped as soon as purchased and warehoused 
at the mills, which are provided with commodious storage rooms. 
The merchant does not have a warehouse of his own, and public 
warehouses in the northern cities are seldom utilized for storing 
cotton. Payment for the cotton is made ordinarily within three 
days after its receipt at the mill. Thus the northern manufac- 
turers bear the burden of carrying a large quantity of raw cotton 
from the time that it is harvested till it is manufactured. 

1 Boston Board of Trade, 5th Annual Report, 1859, P- I( 56. 

2 Ibid., 18th Annual Report, 1872, p. 138. 



182 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The mills found it advantageous in the first half of the nine- 
teenth century to buy their cotton early in order to make sure of 
their supply and also to have a basis for price quotations. 
With the cotton in their own warehouse they could quote prices 
for cloth with less risk of loss. The development of organized 
speculation, with its steadying effect on prices and opportunity for 
hedging, has made this factor less potent at the present time. 
Another reason was that the credit conditions encouraged the 
mills to carry the cotton. During the period of the cultivation 
by slaves the southern planters had to realize upon the cotton 
as soon as it was marketable. Capital was relatively more 
available in the North, and interest rates lower; hence the 
manufacturers could better afford to bear the burden directly. 
There is not the same difference now, yet the financial strength 
of the mills is of sufficient superiority to induce a continuation 
of the former practice. However, prosperity is rendering the 
southern planters more and more independent, and the erection 
of warehouses in the South is a step toward enabling the farmers 
to hold their cotton and obtain higher prices later in the year. 

The extension of railroad facilities and the lowering of rail- 
road freight rates has caused a change in the proportion of raw 
cotton shipped by water. In 1857-58 ninety-nine per cent of 
the cotton was shipped coastwise ; l in 1887-88 seventy per 
cent; in 1897-98 sixty per cent; and at the present time about 
fifty-five per cent. 

In the South there is wider variation in the practice of the 
manufacturers in buying their cotton. The few mills in that 
section which use long staple cotton purchase their supply early 
for reasons the same as those which influence the fine goods 
manufacturers in the North. But with the great majority of 
the southern mills, which manufacture coarse cloth, the practice 
depends upon the location, size, and financial strength of the 
individual mills. In North Carolina, around Charlotte, about 
fifty per cent of the year's supply of cotton is bought during the 
picking season. This percentage is slightly lower than in New 
England since the mills have not as much quick capital. More- 

1 Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, March, 1900, p. 2567. 



THE RAW COTTON MARKET 1 83 

over they have a certain reserve in the hands of the neighboring 
farmers, even if the total supply of the state does have to be 
augmented by cotton from Mississippi. A few of the small 
mills in this section buy their cotton only as they have orders 
for yarn or cloth. 

The quantity bought early in the South Carolina district 
around Greenville, Spartanburg, and Anderson, is large. The 
mills obtain a considerable part of their supply from the imme- 
diate neighborhood, and buy it before the farmers sell it to 
outsiders to be shipped away, thereby saving the freight. The 
proportion bought early, however, is less than it was twenty 
years ago, since the farmers hold it longer now. The local 
supply in Georgia is still larger relatively, but the mills also 
buy early since they can better afford to carry the cotton than 
can the farmers. 

While it is thus common for the southern mills to carry cotton 
for which they have not immediate requirements, the proportion 
bought during the season is probably less than in New England. 
The southern manufacturers do not obtain the cotton entirely 
from merchants, but frequently deal directly with the farmers, 
in a few instances sending out their own buyers through the 
district in which cotton suited to their needs is grown. 

The manufacturers, especially those in the North, are giving 
more and more attention to the selection of their raw cotton. 
During the last twenty years the spinners have become more 
insistent on the terms of the agreement, and on the actual fulfil- 
ment of these terms by the merchant. The grade of the cotton 
and the length of staple are more carefully selected. For example 
the merchant is asked to specify the grade and staple which he 
will deliver, and such fine distinctions are made as those between 
"average middling" and "iniddling"; between "middling 
to good middling " and " middling and good middling." To 
take the second of these examples, where the distinction is 
between " to " and " and," if the agreement was " middling to 
good middling," the merchant might deliver ninety per cent 
middling and ten per cent good middling; but if it was for " mid- 
dling and good middling " he would have to deliver approximately 



184 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

half of each. The manufacturer wishes to know which propor- 
tion he is to receive. The same attention is given to length of 
staple. 

This more careful selection of the raw material shows that 
more attention is being given to the demands of customers, and 
especially that the machinery is more nicely adjusted. It is 
significant of more careful management and greater specialization. 
With the increase in the spinning of fine counts and in the manu- 
facture of fine goods, it has become necessary for the manufac- 
turer to discriminate in the quality of cotton which he buys, and 
in the manufacture of coarser yarn and cloth the machinery 
adjusted for a certain grade of cotton cannot be operated advan- 
tageously on a lower grade, while a higher grade adds a needless 
expense. The spinner must also be careful in his selection of the 
raw cotton because of the preference of the operatives to work 
continuously upon the same grade. If an attempt is made 
repeatedly to substitute an inferior grade, it is difficult to retain 
the better class of operatives. 

Prior to the Civil War the methods were similar, but not so 
clearly defined, and in the speculative period immediately fol- 
lowing the war more of the raw cotton was bought through 
the New York Cotton Exchange. But the rather simple organ- 
ization of the raw cotton market, the relation between the 
manufacturers and the merchants, has undergone few changes 
during the last thirty years. 

Since the cotton is bought by spinners through cotton mer- 
chants who obtain it directly from the South, the question may 
well be raised as to what function the New York Cotton Exchange 
now performs. There are thirteen exchanges, big and little, 
in the southern states, which are more or less closely connected 
with the actual movement of the crop. But that is not a func- 
tion of the New York Exchange, since little cotton is sold there 
for actual delivery, even to New England spinners. How then 
is its existence to be justified ? Or how far can its existence be 
justified ? 

In regard to the sales of spot cotton in New York the Commis- 
sioner of Corporations makes the following statement in his 



THE RAW COTTON MARKET 1 85 

recent Report on Cotton Exchanges. 1 " Years ago New York 
was a broad spot cotton market 2 where large quantities of the 
various grades were received and resold to spinners. In recent 
years, however, the great bulk of the cotton consumed by spinners 
has been shipped directly to them from the cotton belt instead 
of being sent first to cotton merchants in New York. Whereas 
in the early 'seventies the spot business at New York amounted 
to roughly 500,000 bales yearly, or, say, fifteen per cent of the 
crop, in recent years it has rarely amounted to 200,000 bales, or 
to two per cent of an average crop." Thus there has been a 
great decline both absolutely and relatively, as is shown by the 
following table. 

Spot Sales in New York 3 

Number of Bales — Annual Average Per cent of Crop 

1870-71 to 1879- 80 434,865 9.9 

1880-81 to 1889- 90 221,719 3.4 

1890-91 to 1899-1900 159,467 1.9 

1900-01 to 1906- 07 145,873 i-3 

Not only has the volume of spot sales diminished as indicated by 
the average for ten year periods, but the decline began in the 
early 'seventies. In 1870-71 the spot sales amounted to 733,905 
bales, in 1879-80 to 319,573. Hence they have been steadily 
declining from the beginning of the period covered by the table. 
The exports of raw cotton from New York, moreover, are less 
than one-tenth of the total from the country. 

The New York Cotton Exchange, which came into existence in 
1870 and was incorporated in 187 1, was established to aid the 
marketing of the southern cotton crop during the period of 
uncertainty and speculation which followed the close of the war. 
It had not existed prior to the war, and, so far as the selling of 
spot cotton is concerned, its usefulness has steadily waned with 
the re-establishment of the simpler method of marketing. 

1 U. S. Commissioner of Corporations, Report on Cotton Exchanges, part I, 
pp. 22, 23. 

2 In the 'fifties, New York was a spot market of importance. — J. S. Homans, 
Cyclopedia of Commerce, vol. 1, p. 452. 

3 U. S. Commissioner of Corporations, Report on Cotton Exchanges, part I, 
p. 249. 



1 86 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The situation of New York does not make it a natural spot 
cotton market. It is not the most convenient export point 
nor is it sufficiently near the mills for it to be used as a storing 
place for cotton. Of the cotton which is sent to the North by the 
water-rail route only a part enters New York, while for the all- 
rail route the railroads quote through rates to the northern mill 
centres lower than the combined rate to New York and from 
New York to those mill centres. Therefore transhipment at 
New York would add an extra expense. 

Again, with the increasing prosperity of southern planters 
and southern cotton dealers, they have accumulated wealth 
which has made them less dependent upon the New York bankers 
for financial assistance in marketing the crop. At the close of 
the war the impoverished condition of the South forced its 
planters and cotton dealers to seek outside aid. They then 
turned to New York, the financial centre of the country. But 
they are not subject to the same need at the present time. 

Finally, there is the reason usually given by spinners for 
their not using the New York market for actual purchases of 
cotton; the form of the contract of the New York Exchange 
makes it undesirable for them to buy there. This applies 
especially to the purchases of cotton for future delivery, but is 
none the less significant. That the spinners cannot use " con- 
tract " cotton is easily understood when we consider the terms 
of the contract governing the delivery of cotton on the New 
York Cotton Exchange. 1 The contract is based on middling 
cotton, but the seller may at his option include in his delivery 
cotton of several grades, between " fair " and " good ordinary," 
that is between the highest and lowest of the eighteen grades 
recognized by the rules of the exchange. Consequently the 
buyer may receive all high grade cotton, all low grade cotton, 
or a mixture of the two. And if he forces delivery, he usually 
does receive a general mixture with a predominance of the low 
grades. The spinner, as already stated, purchases from the 
merchant cotton of a certain specified grade since he can use 

1 The Report on Cotton Exchanges, referred to above, is devoted chiefly to a 
discussion of this contract. 



THE RAW COTTON MARKET 1 87 

only fairly even-running lots. If he bought cotton on the New 
York Exchange with the expectation of using it in his mill, he 
would find upon receiving it that only a part was adapted to his 
needs. To be sure the payment is adjusted to the grade of cotton 
delivered, according to a scale of " ons " and " offs " arranged 
with reference to the price of middling cotton. But that does 
not help the spinner to obtain immediately just what he wants 
and to dispose of the portion that he does not desire. Moreover 
the spinner is uncertain not only as to what grade of cotton he 
will receive, but also as to when it will be delivered. The seller 
may deliver at any time during the month fixed by the contract, 
upon giving three days' notice. 

It is not necessary for our purposes to go further into the 
intricate methods of grading and fixing of differences on the 
New York Cotton Exchange. It is evident that, the New Eng- 
land cotton manufacturer does not and could not economically 
employ that exchange for buying cotton. If the regulations 
of the Exchange were altered so as to favor the buyer as much as 
the seller, and if the lower grades, which constitute one of the 
sources of difficulty, were eliminated, the employment of the 
Exchange for the actual purchase of cotton might, perhaps, be , 
augmented. However, the present more simple method of 
purchase, and the financial strength of the New England mills 
renders it improbable. 

The justification of the existence of the New York Cotton 
Exchange is not to be found, then, in connection with the actual 
marketing of the great bulk of our cotton crop. It is not a 
" traders' market," but a " speculative exchange." The New 
York " futures market," that is, the speculation or dealing in 
futures on the New York Cotton Exchange, affords the cotton 
merchant and the manufacturer an opportunity to insure 
against loss. This is done by " hedging." The term " hedge " 
was well defined by Mr. Marsh, a member of the Exchange, 
in an address before the National Association of Cotton 
Manufacturers. " A hedge," he said, " is the purchase or 
sale of contracts for one hundred or more bales of cotton for 
future delivery, made not for the purpose of receiving or deliver- 



1 88 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

ing the actual cotton, but as an insurance against fluctuations 
in the market that might unfavorably affect other ventures in 
which the buyer or seller of the ' hedge ' is actually engaged.'' l 
Such contracts are not fulfilled by delivery of cotton, but by the 
payment of the difference between the price called for in the 
contract and the price of spot cotton on the day when the con- 
tract matures. If the price of spot cotton is lower than the price 
agreed upon in the contract, the buyer pays the difference to the 
seller. If delivery were forced, the seller could obtain cotton to 
fill the contract at the spot price, whereas the man who received 
the cotton could not get more than the spot price for it. Hence 
the buyer pays the seller the difference and no cotton changes 
hands. Had the price risen, the seller would have paid the 
buyer the difference. Not only professional speculators, but 
also cotton dealers and manufacturers become parties to these 
contracts. 

A cotton merchant sells cotton for future delivery without 
having already secured any cotton, fixing his price according to 
the quotations current in New York. He will obtain the cotton 
from the South, but to protect himself he buys " futures " on 
the New York Exchange. If he has to pay more for the cotton 
which he delivers than the price agreed upon, he will make good 
his loss on that transaction by selling his " futures " contract, 
or, if he waits till it matures, by the difference which he receives 
from the buyer of the " futures.'' Ordinarily he liquidates his 
New York contract as soon as he has secured the cotton to fill 
the order. These transactions, of course, presume a correspond- 
ing fluctuation in the price of spot cotton and quotations on the 
futures market. 2 

The manufacturer, also, may hedge, by either buying or selling 
futures, according to circumstances. If he has accepted orders 
for goods for the manufacture of which he does not have cotton 
on hand, he may buy futures to the amount of cotton that he 
will need. The contract price of the goods is based upon the 

1 National Association of Cotton Manufacturers, Transactions, no. 83, p. 285. 

2 The rules now in vogue on the New York Exchange do not seem adequately to 
insure this correspondence, and it is against this weakness that the criticism of the 
Commissioner of Corporations is directed. 



THE RAW COTTON MARKET 1 89 

price at which he expects to buy his cotton if he does not already 
have it in his warehouse. Should he be compelled to pay more 
for the cotton than he anticipated, he will on the other hand 
make a profit from the sale of the future contract when it matures. 
If he secures the cotton at a lower price, he will in turn be pre- 
vented from getting any advantage therefrom as he will lose on 
his futures. But he is insured against loss on the combined 
transactions. 

In the second place, the manufacturer may sell futures to 
protect himself on cotton which he has already bought, but for 
the use of which he has not made contracts. If the price of 
cotton advances, he will lose on the futures contract, but gain on 
the sale of the cloth which tends to follow the fluctuations of 
raw cotton in price. 1 If the price of cotton falls, he will gain on 
the futures contract, but receive less for his cloth. Similarly he 
may sell futures to protect himself on goods for which he has 
orders but for which the price is not fixed, such goods occasionally 
being ordered to be paid for at the current market price at time 
of delivery. 

Both these forms of hedging by the manufacturer, that is both 
buying and selling futures, are said to be practised at present 
by New England cotton mills, but as to the development, extent, 
and present methods of hedging, there is little consistency in the 
answers received in reply to inquiries on the subject. All seem 
agreed that the practice is becoming more common, especially 
during the last seven years or since the period of fluctuation 
attendant upon the short crop and the Sully manipulations of 
1904. The reason for its recent growth is the narrowing of the 
margin on which the cotton manufacturing business is carried 
on. 2 

It is more common, however, for the cotton dealer than for 
the cotton manufacturer to hedge. In the first place, the manu- 
facturer does not, under ordinary conditions, hedge the cotton 
which he has in his warehouse, but relies upon his judgment in 

1 This form of hedging is rendered rather unreliable, however, by the effect of 
other factors which sometimes prevent the price of cloth from readily responding 
to changes in the price of cotton. See table and chart in appendix. 

2 See ante, p. 1 73. 



I90 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

gauging the probable course of the market to buy when the price 
is at a level sufficiently low to enable him to manufacture cloth 
at a profit. He knows what the cotton has cost him and can, to 
a considerable extent, fix his prices accordingly. Moreover the 
relative inelasticity of the price of cloth makes Somewhat unreli- 
able a hedge based upon an assumed correspondence in fluctua- 
tions in the prices of cotton and cloth. In the second place, if 
the manufacturer does not have enough cotton on hand when an 
order is tendered, he communicates with a cotton dealer and, 
providing the price quoted is low enough, makes a contract for 
the future delivery of the necessary quantity, thereby eliminating 
all risk to himself. The dealer, while fixing the price according 
to market quotations, usually has to make the contract before 
actually obtaining the cotton, and consequently hedges. Yet 
even this practice seems to have developed largely since 1893, 
for in that year a man thoroughly acquainted with conditions in 
the New England cotton industry stated to the Senate Com- 
mittee, which was then investigating the New York Cotton 
Exchange, 1 that at that time the sale of cotton for future delivery 
was a comparatively new development in cotton manufacturing. 
Hence the merchants previously had less need for protecting 
themselves. 

The practice of hedging by the manufacturers seems to have 
developed somewhat earlier in the South than in New England, 
but at present it is doubtful if it is relatively any greater in the 
former section. There has been more of an element of specula- 
tion in the hedging by the southern cotton manufacturers. This 
is emphasized by certain events during the last few years. One 
mill lost $3,000,000 at a single stroke, through speculation in 
futures by its president. Another mill lost $69,000 in the same 
way. The president of a third mill invoiced goods to his selling 
agents, drew seventy-five per cent on the value of the goods 
amounting to $155,000 and then did not make the goods but 
used the money to speculate in cotton contracts. Fortunately 
he did not lose on his dealings. In each of these cases the presi- 
dent acted without the knowledge and consent of the directors, 

1 Senate Committee on Cotton Growers, Report, vol. i, p. 441. 



THE RAW COTTON MARKET 191 

sometimes, it is alleged, on the basis of " heads I win, tails you 
lose," so far as the mill was concerned. Such abuses led to the 
passage of a law in South Carolina in 1909 prohibiting the use 
of the credit of any corporation by its individual officers. New 
England, to be sure, has not been immune from these speculative 
transactions, for one mill in that section lost $1,500,000 in that 
way eight or nine years ago, and is just resuming dividend 
payments. These are exceptional instances, however, and the 
greater part of the hedging in the South as well as in the North 
is legitimate, both sections using the New York Exchange almost 
exclusively for this purpose. 

The New York Cotton Exchange, therefore, while it is no 
longer regularly the scene of large transactions in actual cotton, 
does assist the merchants and manufacturers by providing a 
means of insurance through its dealings in futures. Provided it 
is properly regulated, its patrons can divest themselves of risk 
of loss, if they will forego the chance of unusual gain by transfer- 
ring to the professional speculators the responsibility of fore- 
casting market conditions. It also serves as a price barometer. 
The prices quoted on the Exchange for spot cotton and for cotton 
for future delivery determine to a large extent the prices at 
which the farmers in the South will sell and the prices at which 
cotton will be offered by the merchants, thus forming the basis 
for dealings in cotton in all parts of the country. Of course the 
Exchange does not determine arbitrarily the prices which are 
quoted, but rather displays the resultant of all the forces acting 
on the price of cotton throughout the western world, from Mem- 
phis, Galveston, New Orleans, and Savannah to Boston, Havre, 
Bremen, and Liverpool. It represents the working out of the 
equilibrium. 

The New York Exchange is unique in that it is, perhaps, more 
essentially speculative than any other exchange, either stock or 
produce, in the world, in that so small a percentage of its con- 
tracts are fulfilled by actual delivery. Yet this may enhance its 
value by relieving it of local influences, such as those which cause 
New Orleans to be a u bull market, " or Liverpool a " bearish 
market." Nevertheless, under its present rules it is subject to 



192 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

manipulations which detract from its value as a price indicator. 
With every recurring " corner " a public agitation for the legal 
prohibition of dealings in futures appears. Such a measure, how- 
ever, would merely transfer the speculation to Liverpool, since 
some opportunity for hedging must be utilized by the merchants. 
Instead of state or federal regulation, it is to be hoped that the 
members of the Exchange will, of their own accord, revise the 
rules either along the lines suggested by the Commissioner of 
Corporations or in some other way that will minimize abuses. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE CLOTH MARKET 

The manufactured goods are produced in large quantities by 
the manufacturers and eventually parcelled out in small pieces 
over the counters of the retail stores. This process covers a 
period of time of greater or less duration, so that credit has to be 
provided. The present chapter attempts to trace the history of 
this market, to analyze the present methods of distributing the 
product, and to discuss the credit and financial relations of the 
middlemen who effect the distribution. 

History of the Market Organization 

The history of the organization of the cotton cloth market 
is the story of a gradual evolution, influenced by changing con- 
ditions, such as the growth of the industry, the economic prog- 
ress of the country, and the building up of the credit structure. 
Some of the earlier methods served their purpose for a time 
and were then abandoned. New forms have been introduced 
from time to time and have become clearly defined parts of 
what is now a complex system. The records, however, are in 
many places obscure. Though technical inventions have been 
chronicled with more or less accuracy by patent records and 
contemporary accounts, methods of doing business have received 
attention, in many instances, only when they have assumed large 
proportions. Yet from the economic standpoint the methods 
of marketing are. of equal if not of greater importance. 

With the introduction of cotton manufacturing various 
devices were experimented with for placing the product on the 
market. The first mills were only for spinning. Their yarn 
was sold for the manufacture of homespuns, and a " portion of 
it was woven on hand looms, either belonging to the firm or to 
private parties working for the firm on contract." l This con- 

1 W. R. Bagnall, Textile Industries of the United States, vol. i, p. 253; also p. 275^ 

193 



194 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

tinued from 1788 till 1814 and even 1820. The concern with 
which Samuel Slater was identified was the first in the United 
States to put successfully into operation machinery for power 
spinning. Slater was the manager of the mill; the capital was 
supplied by Almy & Brown. In this arrangement we find the 
genesis of the selling house, an institution which has been pecu- 
liarly prominent in the American dry goods trade. 

Almy & Brown had an office in their store in Providence, 
whence they directed the distribution of the yarn spun in their 
mills and of the cloth woven for them in the country districts. 
The mill of which Slater was in charge was the first, but his 
partners soon promoted other mills in the same neighborhood 
and sold the product. 1 They had agents in various cities to 
whom they consigned goods, and they also solicited orders by 
post through advertisements in the newspapers of the different 
cities. 2 During the first decade of the nineteenth century 
Philadelphia was the largest central market, but after 181 5 it 
had to share that distinction with Boston. After 1850 both 
were in a measure superseded by New York. In Philadelphia 
there were dealers who sought permanent agencies for the prod- 
ucts of the New England mills, as is shown in a letter by Slater, 
published in his memoirs. 3 In that letter Slater discussed 
arrangements with an agent to whom should regularly be con- 
signed the former's share of the goods manufactured in the mill 
with which he was connected. 

The first cotton mill in Fall River was erected in 181 1, and 
it gave out the cotton to be picked and cleaned by hand in the 
homes and the yarn to be woven, 4 just as was done at the Slater 
mill. This concern also sold part of its yarn in Philadelphia 
through commission houses 5 which had no immediate financial 
connection with the mill. The Troy Company, another of the 
Fall River pioneers, opened its own stores in New England 
cities, in Hallowell, Maine, for example, in 1819, and in the same 

1 W. R. Bagnall, Textile Industries of the United States, p. 163. 

2 Ibid., pp. 163, 164, 254. 

3 G. S. White, Memoir of Samuel Slater, pp. 214-215. 

4 H. H. Earl, History of Fall River, p. 9. 
6 Ibid., p. 18. 



THE CLOTH MARKET 1% 

year " the company's agent was authorized to make a shipment 
of cotton and other goods to the State of Georgia, for the purpose 
of purchasing cotton and other kinds of southern produce on 
account of the company. " This, however, was but a temporary 
expedient, and did not conform to the later practices which were 
even then in embryo. 

Commission houses were evidently employed by the earliest 
cotton cloth manufacturers in the United States. The goods 
were consigned to them to be sold for a specified commission. 
This practice continued for the first quarter of the last century 
as appears from occasional advertisements inserted in the con- 
temporary newspapers by firms which requested consignments 
of domestic goods to be sold on commission. There had begun, 
however, a different form of commission house, the selling house 
or selling agent. The selling house ordinarily sold, as it does 
today, the total output of the mills which it represented, giving 
more or less financial assistance to the manufacturer or the 
purchaser, and receiving therefor a commission. While Almy & 
Brown were a firm of merchants selling cotton goods for the mills, 
they could hardly be styled selling agents in the sense in which 
that term has come to be used in the trade, since they were really 
owners of the cloth. But their financial connection with the 
mills is significant, as a prototype of a later custom. The first 
real selling house of which we have record is that which under- 
took the marketing of the first cloth woven in this country upon 
the power loom. How the selling house made its appearance 
and the function which it performed has been told by Mr. 
Appleton, the man who was most intimately connected with 
the venture. 

When the Waltham company began to weave cloth there was 
but a single dealer in Boston who handled domestic goods, and 
new arrangements had to be made. The first cloth woven by 
the company was a heavy sheeting, and the probable market 
for the goods could not be forecasted. " At that time it was 
supposed that no quantity of cottons could be sold without 
being bleached," Mr. Appleton states, " and the idea was to 
imitate the yard wide goods of India with which this country 



196 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

was then largely supplied. Mr. Lowell informed me that he 
would be satisfied with twenty-five cents the yard for the goods, 
although the nominal price was higher. I soon found a purchaser 
in Mr. Forsaith, an auctioneer, who sold them at auction at 
once, at something over thirty cents. We continued to sell 
them at auction with little variation of the price. This cir- 
cumstance led to B. C. Ward & Co. becoming permanently 
the selling agents." 1 Mr. Appleton was financially interested 
in the Waltham mill, and he was also a partner in the Ward 
Company, which had been formed to deal in imported goods. 
Thus the first selling house obtained its agency because of the 
financial connection of one of its members with the manufactur- 
ing company; on the other hand, its services were necessary, 
since the manufacturer could not attend to the selling of the 
cloth which he made. 

The commission charged by the selling house was at first one 
per cent, 2 and later increased to one and one-quarter per cent 3 
when the agents undertook the preparation of the patterns 
and employed experienced designers. 

Other selling houses were established in Boston as soon as 
the growth of the industry warranted it. A. & A. Lawrence 
entered into the sale of domestic cottons and woolens after their 
import business was cut into by the tariff of 1816, and in 1830 
they became interested in mills in Lowell. 4 After 1837 they gave 
their attention entirely to the sale of the products of the mills 
which they represented. 5 In this instance, as in the case of the 
Ward Company, the selling house owned stock in the mills. 
In 1825 W. & S. Lawrence, who had previously carried on an 
import trade in dry goods, likewise became interested in domestic 
concerns. 6 The selling houses, therefore, had a direct part in 

1 N. Appleton, Introduction of the Power Loom, pp. 11, 12. 

2 Ibid., p. 12. 

3 Ibid., p. 27. 

4 N. Appleton, Memoir of Abbott Lawrence, p. 7. The firm of A. & A. Lawrence 
was dissolved at a later date; the present firm of Lawrence & Co. was built up by 
A. A. Lawrence. Wm. Lawrence, Life of Amos Lawrence, p. 269. 

6 H. A. Hill, Memoir of Abbott Lawrence, p. 23. 

6 F. Hunt, Lives of American Merchants, vol. ii, p. 372. 



THE CLOTH MARKET 1 97 

providing capital for manufacturing cotton goods, and this 
capital had been accumulated in foreign trade. The transfer 
of the interests of these merchants, indicating what was going 
on elsewhere, throws light upon the tariff struggles of those 
days, since it helps us to understand why New England changed 
its attitude toward protection between 1824 and 1832. 

The selling house was of assistance to the manufacturer in 
placing the goods on the market, but the credit which it provided 
was no less important. The manufacturing enterprises at first 
involved risks which caused banks to hesitate in granting credit 
to the new concerns. The selling house, on the contrary, could 
take a direct part in the management, and with its accumulated 
capital make advances to the mills, or, what is more important, 
indorse the notes of the mills so that banks would be willing to 
accept them. At that time the chief credit was with the selling 
house. 

The selling house made it possible to grant long credits to 
the persons who bought the cloth. Southern and western 
buyers could not pay for the cotton cloth, boots and shoes, and 
other New England products, till several months after delivery. 
" We sell our fabrics, which are made in the North, to the south- 
ern buyers on credit of from six to ten months," it was stated 
in 1849. 1 " Neither do we receive a similar credit in return, for 
the reason that they are not in a condition to grant it. All 
the great staples sent from the southern market are sold for 
cash, or on a credit of sixty days. It is in this way that the 
foreign and the home manufacturers supply themselves with 
cotton. Though there are many rich men in the large cotton 
growing states, the number of moneyed men is very small. 
The planters are usually in debt more or less, either from 
having extended their business beyond their means, or from 
the habit of anticipating their incomes by borrowing of their 
cotton factors, the banks, or by credit at the stores." In other 
words the capital of merchants in Boston and other northern 
cities aided in the development of other sections of the country, 
and indirectly facilitated the extension of the slave system. 

1 Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, vol. xxi, p. 628. 



I98 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

With the progress of time the services performed by the 
American selling houses became more diverse, both in distribu- 
ting the products and in providing credit. " Some corpora- 
tions/' it was stated in 1852, 1 " arrange with selling agents 
merely to dispose of the goods, and hand over to the treasurer 
the obligations received therefor; while others require these 
agents to cash the paper and furnish the company with funds 
whenever required to do so. In some cases the selling agent 
directs in regard to qualities, patterns, and so forth, of the goods 
to be manufactured, while in others these duties devolve on the 
treasurer or general agent. This diversity of duties causes a 
difference in the compensation paid to selling agents; but the 
commission usually paid is one per cent on the gross sales of 
the whole production of the establishment, in addition to the 
commission paid upon sales elsewhere than in this city." 

After the goods were received by the selling house they still 
had to be placed in the hands of the retailers. Up to the time 
of the introduction of the power loom the American people 
(i. e. those who did not make their own homespuns) depended 
largely upon imported cottons and woolens, and it was but 
natural that the same means of selling domestic cloth should be 
tried as were in use for the distribution of the foreign fabrics. 
This accounts for the sale of the first products of the Waltham 
factory at auction, 2 since it was then customary to sell English, 
French, and other foreign wares, cloth as well as hardware, tea, 
and other commodities, at public auctions. 3 

The auctions of domestic dry goods were held in Boston and 
Philadelphia, the former being more important. They were 
attended by local jobbers and also by jobbers from more or 
less distant cities. As business conditions became more settled 
and commercial reputations more firmly established, the auction 
gradually gave way to direct sales to the jobbers by the selling 
houses. During this transition both methods persisted side 
by side, and in 1826 a society was organized in Boston, the 

1 Report of Sturgis Committee, p. 3. 

2 See ante, page 196. 

3 Advertisements of these sales were published in the daily newspapers, the 
Boston Advertiser for example. 



THE CLOTH MARKET 1 99 

chief object of which seems to have been to facilitate the sale 
of cotton cloth and other goods of American manufacture. 

The New England Society for the Promotion of Manufac- 
tures and the Mechanic Arts was incorporated l in Massachu- 
setts March 3, 1826, by Patrick T. Jackson, Jesse Putnam, 
John Doggett, and Henry A. S. Dearborn. Mr. Jackson was 
prominently connected with numerous cotton mills, and his 
associates were men of standing in the city. The society was 
authorized by its charter to hold public sales and exhibitions, 
and to award premiums for inventions and discoveries. The 
public sales, moreover, were exempt from the tax on auctions. 
The first sale was held September 12, 1826, and thereafter semi- 
annually for about five years. The history of this undertaking 
is obscure, but we know that at the first five sales nearly $2,000- 
000 worth of goods were disposed of, and that from time to time 
premiums and medals were awarded. 2 

The object of these public sales by the New England Society 
was to encourage home manufactures and at the same time to 
provide an outlet for the goods, since, to judge from the advertise- 
ments, 3 anyone could send in goods and have them entered in 
the catalogue from which the sales were made. The last ref- 
erence to these sales was in 1832, when Niles' Register gave 
the following account. 

" The New England sales were closed on Saturday evening, 
having gone off with much better spirit and prices than was 
anticipated. The deductions from former prices, however, 
were very considerable in the leading articles, but if the pur- 
chasers had substantial reasons for being satisfied with their 
bargains the manufacturers had much less ground for complaint 
than they expected to have. A great many lots, however, 
were withdrawn after selling the first parcel, in consequence 
of low bids. It was estimated that at least $1,500,000 worth 
of goods were brought together on this occasion. The display 
of calicoes and chintzes was very fine. They occupied almost 

1 Massachusetts Statutes, 1825-26, chap. 120. 

2 A. Bowen, Picture of Boston, pp. 60-61. 
8 Boston Advertiser, March 8, 1831. 



200 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

entirely the centre hall under the dome (Quincy Hall). Among 
them the muslins from Robinson's, Fall River, printed on 
imported fabric, were decidedly elegant. This article sold for 
forty cents. The calicoes were very rich, but not in so great 
variety as the improved condition of that manufacture would 
seem to warrant." 1 

In spite of the assurance of this report that the sales were 
a complete success, the withdrawal of part of the cotton goods 
and the dearth of calicoes signify waning interest on the part 
of the manufacturers, who did not wish to advertise new wares 
in this way. A year later semi-annual sales of shoes and furni- 
ture were held in March at the same place, 2 but in the advertise- 
ments no mention of cotton goods is to be found, nor is the name 
of the New England Society attached to the notices. Occasional 
auctions were held in Boston after that date, but they were of 
comparatively little importance, taking place only when it was 
desired to unload a stock of goods quickly. The decline of 
auctions and public sales was due to the increased volume of 
output, which necessitated a more regular and a more reliable 
market, and to the improvements in communication which 
began about 1830. Continued changes in transportation facili- 
ties and credit conditions led to further alterations in the market 
organization. 

During the first half of the nineteenth century Boston and 
Philadelphia were the chief centres of the trade in domestic 
cottons. At Boston the selling of the product of the New Eng- 
land mills was concentrated, while at Philadelphia was located 
the most important market for " blue goods," — denims, checks, 
stripes, and the like. 3 Meanwhile New York was becoming by 
far the largest market for imported cloth. Partly because of 
the attraction of the import trade, and more especially on 
account of the rise of New York as a financial and commercial 
centre after the opening of the Erie Canal and the establish- 
ment of rail communication with other parts of the country, 

1 Niks' Register, March 31, 1832, p. 79. 

2 Boston Advertiser, March, 1833. 

8 One Hundred Years of American Commerce, vol. ii, p. 556. 



THE CLOTH MARKET 201 

that city began to assume the leadership in the domestic dry 
goods trade, which had grown to such dimensions that greater 
centralization was inevitable. 

The movement to New York, which hitherto had had almost 
no dry goods commission business, began in 1846, when Boston 
firms opened branches there, 1 A few years later nineteen branch 
houses were located in New York, for the sake of the facilities 
for shipping to the South and West, and of the advantages for 
credit. 2 The Boston and Philadelphia selling houses continued 
to stand in the same relation to the mills as formerly, and to 
transact a large business at their home offices. They had, 
however, expanded so as to secure a wider market. 

Previously the domestic dry goods trade at New York had been 
grafted upon the import trade. The goods imported into 
New York early in the century were sold by means of auctions, 
just as they had been sold at the other ports of entry. James 
Flint wrote in 1822, "At present vast quantities of English 
goods are selling by auction in the ports of the United States. 
New York is the chief market in this way. Merchants from the 
country attend these sales, sometimes for many days and even 
weeks together." 3 The auctions continued to be of importance 
for many years. They were, however, opposed by the jobbers, 
who sought legislation for restraining them. 4 

To this end the state of New York in 181 7 imposed a. tax on 
auctioneers of one per cent on their total sales of goods brought 
from beyond the Cape of Good Hope, and one and one-half 
per cent on goods imported from Europe. This did not satisfy 
the jobbers who desired still heavier taxes, and merchants not 
only from New York but also from Boston, Philadelphia, and 
Baltimore petitioned Congress almost every year for the next 
fifteen years. This was the period when the importation of 
English goods was particularly heavy and the pressure on the 
prices of domestic fabrics great. Nevertheless no federal legisla- 

1 Professional and Industrial History of Suffolk County, vol. ii, p. 155. 

2 Ibid., p. 155. 

3 J. Flint, Letters from America, p. 33. 

4 Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, vol. x, p. 154. 



202 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

tion was enacted. The state tax on auctions and the opposition 
did not cause an abandonment of the practice. In 1851, for 
example, about $7,500,000 worth of dry goods, two- thirds 
foreign and one-third domestic, were disposed of at New York 
in this way. 1 

The introduction of more regular communication with Europe 
and the establishment of more definite methods of trade within 
the country led to a relative decline of the auctions. They 
came to be used more and more only as a means of getting rid 
of accumulated stocks. The change can be traced from the 
annual reports on the dry goods trade published by the New 
York Chamber of Commerce. 

Early in the spring of i860 the tone of the market for imported 
goods was dull, hence " jobbers, perceiving the fears of importers, 
were determined in bringing them to the auction room, which 
they effected without much difficulty, so that the public sales 
were unusually early, and large almost beyond precedent." 2 
In the autumn of the same year, " the auctions commenced 
about a month later than usual." 3 Thus auctions were still a 
regular occurrence, but not for disposing of the greater portion 
of the goods. 

In 1 86 1, " the importers having sold what goods they could at 
private sale to good customers, now forced their goods in the 
auction room. From the auctioneers they were sure of their 
pay, and preferred to take low prices, with certainty of payments, 
to selling to purchasers as they came, and running the risks of 
bad debts." 4 The credit structure was not yet free from flaws. 

While at the dates just referred to no mention of public sales 
of domestic goods is made, the markets for imported and domestic 
goods were so closely bound together in New York that they 
cannot be considered separately. And in 1877, " several im- 
portant auction sales of the cotton and woolen productions of 
Eastern manufacturers, represented in this market (New York) 

1 Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, vol. xxv, p. 610. 

2 Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, 3d Annual Report, p. 151. 

3 Ibid., p. 151. 

4 Ibid., 4th Annual Report, p. 233. 



THE CLOTH MARKET 203 

by prominent commission houses, " were held. 1 The next year, 
in May, occurred an important auction sale of 12,000 packages 
of (domestic) cotton goods, 2 followed by other sales. 

" In May, 1883, surplus stocks began to find their way to the 
auction room, the first sale being of 2,000 packages of a well- 
known brand of tickings. This was followed in July by an 
offering of 13,000 packages of denims, tickings, ducks, corset 
jeans, ginghams, and bleached goods; this again in August 
by the sale of some 17,000 cases of a similar character. Later 
in the year a sale of some 3,000 cases of cotton flannels was made, 
which, with some small offerings, made up a total of (domestic) 
cotton goods disposed of at auction of over 40,000 packages, 
with a value of about $3,500,000." 3 Although this amount 
was much smaller than the total value of cotton goods sold in 
the city in that year, it was by no means negligible. At this date 
the auctions of American cloth had become more important 
than those of foreign-made goods. 

The sales continued more or less regularly, since in 1888 it 
was remarked that " cotton goods were kept so closely sold up 
by the commission houses during the year, that no public sales 
were found necessary as in former years." 4 The following 
year, 10,000 cases of cotton goods were sold at auction, 5 but 
this was the turning point, as the sales occurred less frequently 
in subsequent years. Two large public sales were held in 1893, 
that of the Amoskeag in September and that of Bliss, Fabyan in 
November, 6 after the crisis had caused a sharp decline in the 
market and the large stocks manufactured in anticipation of 
a heavy demand had become a burden to the selling agents. 
In December, 1894, 27,000 packages, largely colored cotton 
goods, were sold in this way. 7 In 1896 one gingham mill closed 
out its stocks at auction and changed to the production of other 

1 Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, 20th Annual Report, p. 97. 

2 Ibid., 21st Annual Report, p. 112. 

3 Ibid., 26th Annual Report, p. 112. 

4 Ibid., 31st Annual Report, p. 86. 

5 Ibid., 3 2d Annual Report, p. 83. 

6 Ibid., 36th Annual Report, p. 86. 

7 Ibid., 37th Annual Report, p. 88. 



204 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

goods, 1 and in 1897, 20,000 packages of staple cottons were 
sold at auction by Catlin & Co. 2 There the sales ended. In- 
stituted in the first place in New York, as in other cities, for 
the purpose of selling imported goods, auctions were a ready 
means of getting domestic goods into the hands of the whole- 
salers, but as the market organization settled down to more 
fixed forms, the public sales were held less and less regularly, 
and now have ceased to be employed, even for disposing of an 
accumulated surplus. 

But to return to the period prior to the Civil War. At first 
the mills had manufactured whatever goods they and their 
selling agents thought could be readily sold, but gradually they 
began to sell ahead, that is accept orders for goods before they 
were manufactured. However, as practically all of their prod- 
ucts were staples, they accumulated stocks in their warehouses, 
if orders for future or immediate delivery were lacking. 

The selling houses were accustomed to grant long credits 
until the outbreak of the War. The Boston Board of Trade 
report on the dry goods trade in 1858, for example, stated: 
" The experience of the past year has been productive of some 
good results. The rule of giving eight months' credit to southern 
and western buyers, and frequently extending it afterwards 
for two, four, and even six months, will hereafter be discon- 
tinued by the leading commission houses. Six months has been 
fixed as the outside limit and liberal inducements will be offered 
buyers to purchase for cash or on shorter time." 3 This indi- 
cates, also, that the prices charged for the cloth had been so 
high that the sellers were compensated for waiting and the 
capitalists had not suffered from having their capital tied up 
for a long period. 

The first cloth manufactured at Waltham was sold in the gray, 
and in following years considerable quantities were placed in 
the hands of jobbers in that condition. Bleacheries were estab- 
lished, also, where the cloth was bleached on commission, usually 

1 Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, 39th Annual Report, p. 91. 

2 Ibid., 40th Annual Report, p. 83. 

3 Boston Board of Trade, 4th Annual Report, p. 132. 



THE CLOTH MARKET 20S 

for the mill. Manufacturers weaving colored yarn either dyed 
it themselves or sent it to job dye-works, except for the small 
quantity purchased already dyed. Piece dyeing, likewise, 
seems to have been done chiefly at the plant where the cloth 
was manufactured, or on commission. Printed goods, however, 
were handled somewhat differently. Most of the Lowell and 
Lawrence mills introduced their own printing equipment either 
when first built or within a few years thereafter. But in addi- 
tion to these, several independent print works were put into 
operation during the first half of the century. The cloth manu- 
facturing companies with print works occasionally bought 
goods for printing when unable to supply enough from their 
own mills or when desiring goods of different construction 
from those which they made, and the independent companies 
also bought the cloth which they printed. 1 Thus the printer 
owned the fabrics which he converted and sold them ordinarily 
through a selling house. 

From the first many print cloth mills which sold gray cloth 
for printing had no selling agents, but disposed of their goods 
directly to the printer, since they were manufacturing staple 
products which conformed to recognized standards, and, fur- 
thermore, both parties were in a position to communicate with 
each other and to appreciate each other's business reputa- 
tion. The printer, moreover, did not keep the goods long in 
his hands, .and could therefore pay cash or give a short term 
note to the cloth manufacturer. The need of credit came after 
the goods were converted, and there the selling house usually 
stepped in. Thus in 1872 the textile directories indicate that 
nearly all of the Fall River print cloth mills were selling direct, 
without a selling agent. The method of selling direct became 
still more important in subsequent years, and in 1890 it was 
said that the desire to economize had led a number of mills to 
dispense with agents and commission houses. 2 This was one 
among the many economies sought by reason of the competi- 

1 The first print cloths manufactured in Fall River were sold to a local printer. — 
H. H. Earl, History of Fall River, p. 28. 
3 Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, 33d Annual Report, p. 81. 



206 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

tion of the southern mills. Those which were not manufac- 
turing goods which required an elaborate selling department, 
and which were strong enough financially, cut down their 
expenses by assuming the merchandizing part of the business. 
The same tendency is apparent today. 

Another middleman, however, interposed himself as the 
industry expanded. This was the merchant-converter, an 
individual or firm having no manufacturing plant and no finish- 
ing plant. He bought cloth and had it converted, — bleached, 
dyed, or more commonly printed, on commission, and then resold 
it. Just when he entered the dry goods trade is uncertain, 
but the first mention of converters which I have been able to 
find was in 1881, when the placing of orders by converters is 
spoken of. 1 Three years later converters are again mentioned 
in the trade report, as though they were a regular institution. 2 
They evidently began operations before 1880, and since then 
have gradually assumed a larger and larger place. 

During this evolution of the market organization two attempts 
have been made to institute selling bureaus. The first was in 
1 89 1 when nearly all of the southern plaid mills sought to remedy 
unsatisfactory market conditions by establishing a joint selling 
agency in New York 3 with power to regulate styles and produc- 
tion. 4 The trouble, however, was more fundamental, and the 
venture was so unsuccessful that it was speedily abandoned. The 
other attempt was made by fifty-two Fall River print cloth 
mills which signed an agreement to curtail output and pool 
practically the entire stock of certain classes of goods, including 
print cloths. 5 The disposal of the goods was entrusted to a 
committee of five, with two trustees. 6 After three years of 
existence the pool was dissolved in August, 1901, when it became 
apparent that with the revival of trade and the restoration of 

1 Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, 24th Annual Report, p. 90. 

2 Ibid., 27th Annual Report, p. 106. 

3 Commercial and Financial Chronicle, vol. lii, p. 351. 

4 Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, 34th Annual Report, p. 83. 
6 Commercial and Financial Chronicle, vol. lxix, Cotton Crop Supplement, p. 5. 

6 Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, 41st Annual Report, p. 86. 



THE CLOTH MARKET 207 

normal conditions it was no longer necessary. 1 Perhaps the 
doubt concerning its legality also had some influence in bringing 
about its disruption. These two pools were merely temporary 
devices and are of little importance in the history of the market 
organization, except to show the diversity of the experiments 
out of which the present organization has developed. 

The evolution of the cloth market, therefore, has been the 
gradual working out of forms adapted to the conditions. Just 
as mechanical inventions have had to stand the test of time 
and experience, likewise the less tangible merchandizing arrange- 
ments have been the product of necessity and experiment. 
The result is a complex organism at the present time which 
even now is undergoing change. 

Present Organization 

Four methods of selling cotton cloth are followed: — (1) sell- 
ing direct, (2) by a selling house, (3) through a broker, and 
(4) to a converter. 

(1) When a cotton manufacturing company sells direct, the 
goods are marketed either by an officer of the company or by a 
salesman employed solely for that purpose. The business is 
generally transacted by the treasurer, who accepts the orders and 
arranges the terms of sale. Several large companies, however, 
have established private selling offices under the control of the 
treasurers, in which the trade is attended to by salesmen. The 
Lorraine Manufacturing Company of Pawtucket has its treas- 
urer's office at the mills and a selling office in New York, with 
branches in Chicago and other cities. The Amoskeag Manu- 
facturing Company instituted a similar plan in 19 10, and the 
product of the American Printing Company is now sold by 
M. C. D. Borden & Sons, which, in view of that firm's con- 
trol in the printing company, amounts to selling direct. But 
as yet few manufacturers operate on a scale sufficiently large 
to permit the maintenance of a separate selling department. 
In the majority of instances where the products are sold direct, 
the work is personally superintended by the treasurer. 

1 Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, 44th Annual Report, p. 95. 



208 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Selling direct is particularly characteristic of the New Eng- 
land mills which manufacture staples. Those mills are located 
chiefly in southern New England, in the vicinity of New Bed- 
ford and Fall River. They produce plain goods of standard 
styles, the selling of which is easier than the marketing of fancy 
goods with seasonal designs. Moreover, the standard goods 
are sold for cash or on short term notes, whereas longer credit 
must be granted on the other class. Still, not all New England 
mills producing staples sell direct, for reasons to be explained 
later. In the South many of the yarn mills, but few of the 
cloth mills, sell direct. 

The standard goods disposed of in this way are sold in the 
gray, that is unfinished. The mill normally has orders about 
three months ahead, especially on the finer grades, but if the 
market prospects are good, the mill is kept running even if no 
orders are immediately at hand, and the cloth is warehoused 
till there is a demand for it. To express it in trade terms, when 
the manufacturer has not sold ahead, he manufactures for stock, 
since there are many spot sales of this class of goods. 

Manufacturing for stock was formerly common for all classes 
of fabrics. The results were the auctions. But the auction 
room meant a loss to the mills, and consequently the manufac- 
turers of finished goods have gradually given up the practice. 
For them there is always a danger inherent in any accumulation 
in their warehouses. Their market is not as flexible as that 
of the gray cloth manufacturers. Yet even the latter, as well as 
the former, generally find a policy of immediate curtailment 
desirable whenever a panic occurs. 

The gray goods manufactured in Fall River are usually sold 
f.o.b. Fall River, the manufacturer ending his responsibility, 
except for faults in the fabric, when the cloth is delivered to the 
transportation company. The cloth is finished wherever the 
purchaser desires, and at his own responsibility. 

The advantage of selling direct is that the mill is more inde- 
pendent. There is no conflict between the treasurer and the 
selling house, and no suspicion that the selling agent is not 
trying to serve the best interests of the mill. The treasurer 



THE CLOTH MARKET 209 

may not always be as capable as the specialists of the selling 
house in judging the market, but the amount that would have 
been paid to the selling house as commission is saved. 

(2) The selling house, sometimes called selling agent or 
commission house, is a separate firm and is in most cases the sole 
agent for the mill whose goods it handles. A few mills have two 
selling houses, each for a different kind of product. For example, 
a mill may have one selling agent for yarns, if it makes yarn for 
sale, and another for cloth. A small number of mills which 
employ a selling house also sell goods direct. But in the main 
one concern markets all the goods produced by the mill, and 
the mill is not at liberty to sell through any other agency. A 
selling house, however, is agent for several mills, and frequently 
markets woolen as well as cotton goods. 

The selling houses have gradually expanded their business 
with the increase in the size of the plants of the companies for 
which they are agents and with the acquisition of the business 
of new mills. The larger houses have offices in New York, 
Boston, and numerous other cities. The more prominent 
ones have from ten to twenty mills for which they act as selling 
agents. In all instances they accept the orders and control 
the marketing of the goods, the treasurers merely collecting 
the bills. The selling agent has two distinct functions, — the 
distribution of the goods and the provision of financial assist- 
ance. As was indicated in a preceding section, both those func- 
tions were performed by the early selling houses. The two 
services are not of equal importance in New England at the 
present time, but in the South both are utilized by numerous 
mills. 

For southern mills the difficulties of marketing the cloth 
give an opportunity for selling agents. The distance from the 
markets and the lack of intimate acquaintance with market 
conditions are obstacles to direct selling by southern manufac- 
turers. Moreover the holding of stock in southern corporations 
by selling houses, while less common than in New England, 
is by no means unknown. But the dearth of capital has had 
fully as great influence as any other factor in causing the southern 



2IO THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

mills to rely upon selling houses. Inasmuch as their quick 
capital has seldom been adequate, the southern mills have 
borrowed money either by receiving advances on the goods or 
by an indorsement of their notes. Spinning mills occasionally 
obtain funds directly from the southern banks in exchange for 
a lien on their stock of cotton. But for advances on the product 
and the indorsement of notes or guaranteeing of accounts north- 
ern selling houses have been employed and have frequently 
loaned from 75 to 90 per cent on the value of the cloth. 1 In 
return they have received not only interest on money advanced 
and a higher commission for indorsement of notes or guarantee 
of account, but also the exclusive agency for the sale of the 
product. 

The commission charged for the sale of southern goods is 
higher, because of greater risk. A southern manufacturer pays 
his selling agent three and one-half or four per cent, a northern 
manufacturer one and one-half or two per cent. The commission 
on southern goods includes two per cent for selling and two 
per cent for guaranteeing the payment of the purchasers' ac- 
counts. The majority of New England mills are so strong 
financially and their credit is so firmly established that the 
additional indorsement of their commercial paper by a selling 
house is seldom little more than a matter of form; hence they are 
relieved of the extra charge. In the case of the southern mills, 
which are generally smaller, less strong financially, and too 
remote to be easily watched, there is greater risk. Southern 
goods are more apt to have flaws and do not, as a rule, enjoy 
the reputation of northern fabrics. 

The relations between the southern manufacturers and their 
selling agents have not always been most cordial. Not only 
have the manufacturers complained of the higher commission 
which they pay, but they have also accused the selling agents 
of disposing of consignments of goods at unremunerative prices. 
They allege that the selling agents have sold such goods at what- 
ever prices were obtainable, even if the market were dull, instead 
of carrying them till trade improved. It was this dumping of 

1 D. A. Tompkins, Cotton Mill-Commercial Features, p. 33. 



THE CLOTH MARKET 211 

consigned goods that was felt most keenly by the New England 
manufacturers and gave rise to the complaints against southern 
competition in the 'nineties. The selling houses have been 
accused of causing severe injury and even bankruptcy of south- 
ern mills in this way, just as they have also been charged with 
bankrupting some New England companies. The fault, how- 
ever, would seem to be ascribable to the consignment system; 
for it has been consigned goods which were sold at ruinous 
prices. 

Consignment trade is nearly always unsatisfactory and nearly 
always gives rise to complaint. It is not peculiar to the Ameri- 
can domestic trade in dry goods, since foreign manufacturers 
who send consignments to New York import houses frequently 
make similar accusations. A manufacturer who produces 
more than he has orders for, and who cannot hold the goods 
in his own warehouse, or send his own salesmen into the field, 
places himself at the mercy of sudden market changes. A sell- 
ing house can seldom afford to carry a stock of goods, especially 
on a falling market, and has to take what it can get. The fault 
of the selling house in this respect does not appear to lie so much 
in the actual sale of the goods as in the failure to forecast the 
market correctly and advise its clients to curtail shipments. 
At all events, dissatisfaction with the selling houses has fostered 
the spread of the practice of selling direct. 

The -selling house has maintained a strong foothold in New 
England also, although not in New Bedford and Fall River. 
In some instances large holdings of stock in a mill by a selling 
house or some of its members has continued the connection 
between the two when otherwise it would have been broken. 
Secondly, gray cloth manufacturers situated in the more remote 
parts of New England would perhaps find it difficult to keep 
closely enough in touch with the market to sell direct. Others 
are so weak financially that the credit of the selling house is 
almost indispensable. They have not sufficient ready capital 
to, provide for current expenses, — the payment of wages, 
purchase of raw material, and settlement of other charges in- 
curred during the process of manufacture and until the goods are 



212 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

paid for by the purchaser. Nevertheless for a majority of the 
New England manufacturers, advance of money or indorse- 
ment of notes is not essential. The chief credit has come to be 
primarily with the mill. Consequently financial aid is no 
longer as influential in securing exclusive agencies for New Eng- 
land cotton mills by the selling houses. On the other hand, 
the selling houses have found an increased scope for activity 
in the marketing of other than staple fabrics. 

The mills which manufacture fancy goods of seasonal design, 
such as fancy prints or ginghams, ordinarily employ a selling 
house. They are mills which do not sell in the gray. The 
selling house either selects the designs itself, or is at least asked 
to give its opinion on the designs before the patterns are set up. 
Later, samples of cloth bearing the various designs are sent to 
the selling house by the mill, by means of which orders are 
solicited from regular customers and from the trade in general. 
The selling of these fancy goods requires especial skill in judging 
the designs, in securing orders, and in estimating the probable 
demand. The selling of staples is much simpler; if the goods 
are not in immediate demand at satisfactory prices they may 
be stored away in the warehouse. But the fancies must be 
sold to meet the prevailing fashions during the season for which 
they are produced. Otherwise they can be disposed of only at 
a loss, owing to the dislike for last season's designs. It is essen- 
tial that the marketing of the fancy goods should be in the hands 
of skilled salesmen. 

Complexity of designs and necessity of securing orders before 
the goods are manufactured have made it necessary to send 
out the designs long before the season in which the goods are to 
be placed upon the retail market. Each mill usually has two 
seasons. For example, a mill may have a flannel season and a 
wash goods season. For the latter, designs are sent out in the 
autumn, the goods are made during the winter and put upon the 
market in the spring. For the former, the designs are issued in 
January, and the goods made ready to be shipped in the autumn. 
Likewise in ginghams and fancy prints there are spring and 
autumn designs. While the special seasons are well denned, 



THE CLOTH MARKET 213 

designs are also sent out by the mills during the intervening 
periods. The designs are submitted to the trade much earlier than 
formerly, now usually six months ahead, whereas fifteen years 
ago cards were made up in January for spring delivery. The 
marketing of fancy goods, therefore, has become specialized 
along with the specialization of the industry. 

The selling department must understand the market thoroughly 
and this can be accomplished better by a selling house than by 
the treasurer or his subordinates. 1 A selling house has so many 
agents scattered over the country that it can feel every pulse 
beat of the market. It can foretell more or less accurately 
the probable strength of the demand for the individual lines 
and understands the local tastes. Certain styles are better 
received in some localities than in others, and in general there 
are distinct sectional characteristics. For example, the people 
in the south-west prefer light gay colors and those residing in 
the north-west darker gray goods. These local preferences 
and the fluctuations of a wide market offer opportunity for 
specialization in selling fancy cotton fabrics. 

The seasonal goods are made to fill orders which the selling 
house has secured before the manufacture of the cloth is begun. 
Of course, if the selling house thinks that the market will absorb 
more of the goods than it has orders for, it accordingly requests 
the mill to manufacture a larger quantity. As a rule no order 
is accepted for less than 2,000 yards by some mills, and by other 
mills for not less than 6,000 or 10,000 yards of a single design. 
In every case the order must be large enough to pay for setting 
up the design and adjusting the machinery, without necessi- 
tating the charging of exorbitant prices. 

A practice of which the mills complain is lenience in allowing 
customers to cancel orders after they have been accepted by the 
selling house, given to the mill, and the cloth made. In the 
recent depression following the panic of 1907 many orders were 
cancelled, thus causing loss to the mills. The competition 

1 This statement refers to the company of average size. Only a company with 
a very large output can afford to maintain a selling department equal to that of a 
selling house. 



214 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

between the mills and the desire to retain customers led to the 
extension of a practice which the mills would be glad to get 
rid of. The merchants, however, justify their action in can- 
celling the contracts on the grounds that the mills were tardy 
in rilling the orders which had been accepted. " During the 
great rise in cloth during 1906 and the early part of 1907, the 
experience of the buyers was that the vast majority of the mills 
were behind on their promised deliveries, in some cases the mills 
not making any deliveries on their contracts for three or four 
months past the time promised. In other cases, where they 
began fairly promptly, their weekly deliveries were much smaller 
than promised. The consequence was that when the crash 
came in the fall of 1907, the buyers had contracts outstanding 
which should have been completed by the mills, and in addi- 
tion to this they had finished goods on hand that had been 
carried over from the season before through inability to get 
their goods from the mills when promised. About ninety per 
cent of the rejections after the panic were based by the buyers 
on the fact that the mills were behind on delivery. " *■ This 
statement, in the words of one of the buyers, throws light upon 
the other side of the controversy. 

Irrespective of the extent to which the cancellations were 
justified in 1907, it is to the interest of both parties that a formal 
arrangement be instituted to prevent abuses in the future. 
To this end the two large cotton manufacturers' associations 
have undertaken to formulate a uniform cloth contract and to 
provide for some sort of an arbitration board to pass judgment 
upon cases arising from breaches of the contract. In order to 
protect themselves an agreement between the mills is necessary. 
The individual mills are not only reluctant to take the matter 
to court when an order is cancelled, because of the relatively 
small amount involved in each cancellation, and because of 
the disadvantage in competition to which they might be sub- 
jected, but also because of the technicalities involved and the 
uncertainty of securing a favorable verdict. No piece of cloth 
is perfect and a slight flaw may be made the basis of a refusal to 

1 Textile World Record, vol. xxxix, p. 63. 



TEE CLOTH MARKET 215 

accept the piece at all, thereby placing the blame on the mill. 
The question of cancellation has assumed more importance 
with the increase in the length of time between the giving of 
the order and the delivery of the goods. It has become more 
difficult to foretell what business conditions will prevail at the 
time of delivery, and if the market suddenly collapses, there is 
a loss to be borne by some one. Where a mill has not been 
punctual in fulfilling its contracts, it has little right to seek 
relief, but on the other hand a uniform contract and an arbi- 
tration board would prevent the burden being unjustly thrust 
upon the mills which had met their obligations. 

The selling house performed a valuable service in the early 
years of its existence as a distributing agent for the manufac- 
turers and in giving financial aid to the mills which lacked 
sufficient capital. It still plays an important part in the market- 
ing of special kinds of goods and in some cases in indorsing the 
notes of the mill. Another function of the selling house is the 
centralizing tendency which it has stimulated in the movement 
for integration to which reference has already been made. A 
few selling houses, however, are little more than parasites, hold- 
ing mills tightly within their grasp as creditors. 

(3) Unlike goods that are finished at the mill where woven, 
usually sold by a selling agent to the wholesaler or large 
retailer, cloth sold in the gray ordinarily passes through the 
hands of a broker to a converter. The broker is a middle- 
man who brings together the buyer and the seller. In New 
York, Boston, Fall River, and some other cities, there are a 
number of these cloth brokers who buy no cloth themselves 
and accept no responsibility but merely act as intermediaries. 
In Fall River the greater part of the cloth, probably ninety 
per cent, is sold through brokers, and in other places where 
standard goods are manufactured, brokers usually aid the treas- 
urer or the selling house in securing orders for cloth in the gray. 
The New York cotton goods brokers are by far the most impor- 
tant, however, and the number has increased from eighteen 1 in 
1907 to thirty-nine 2 in 191 1. If a man wishes to purchase a 

1 Dockham's Textile Directory, 1907. 2 Blue Book Textile Directory, 1911-12. 



2l6 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

certain quantity of a specified style of cloth, the broker finds a 
manufacturer or a manufacturer's agent who can fill the order. 
Thus by keeping in touch with the buyers and with the sellers, 
the broker is able to bring together the right parties, and with 
the expansion of the industry and the growing volume and 
diversification of products such a middleman secures an in- 
creasingly large place in the market organization. The pur- 
chaser is able to find more readily the goods which he wants, 
and the manufacturer economizes in time spent in seeking 
customers. 

For his services the broker usually receives one-half of one 
per cent on the value of the goods which he is instrumental in 
selling. As the greater part of the southern goods are sold in 
the gray by the selling house through a broker, whereas many 
New England mills manufacturing this kind of goods employ 
only the broker, it is evident that the commission paid to the 
selling house is saved to the northern mills. 

(4) The purchaser of the gray goods is either a printer l or 
a merchant-converter, another middleman. The term con- 
verter is used in several senses, but here is applied to the class of 
men who buy cloth in the gray, have it converted, and then 
sell it to the wholesaler or large retailer. The converter secures 
the order for a certain style of finished goods, or thinks that 
he can dispose of such goods, and then buys the cloth from a 
manufacturer. He gauges his purchases by market conditions, 
" going in " lightly or heavily according to trade prospects and 
the price at which he can obtain the cloth. He sends the cloth 
to the converting establishment which offers the best terms 
or has a specialty in the kind of finish which he desires. The 
cloth is bleached, dyed, or printed, as the case may be. For 
printing the converter may have his own designs; a few conver- 
ters who specialize in prints and offer fancy patterns even send 
agents to Paris for the latest ideas. 

1 The printer is also a converter in the sense that he buys gray cloth and sells 
finished goods, but it seems advisable to limit the use of the term converter to 
the merchant. 



TEE CLOTH MARKET 217 

The converter has become particularly prominent within 
the last ten years. 1 The increase in the scale of production, 
the specialization of the industry by the separation of cloth 
manufacturing /and cloth finishing, and particularly the demand 
for greater diversification of styles and finish have caused a 
great increase in the converter's business. By having the cloth 
converted on his own responsibility, the converter relieves the 
manufacturer and the finisher of a certain amount of risk. This 
encourages an increase in the scale of production and enables 
the manufacturer and the finisher to give more attention to the 
refinement of their respective branches. The converter also 
brings in capital and credit, buying the goods on short terms of 
payment, carrying them till they are converted, and, if need be, 
providing credit to the purchaser. The development of the con- 
verter, therefore, signifies a diversification and specialization 
of the distributing functions and renders the market more plastic. 
An increased volume of trade can be more nicely adjusted to 
the varying demands. 

The mercantile organization of the American cotton goods 
trade is undergoing a change at the present time, and the posi- 
tion of the merchant-converter is the key to the situation. 
Although several printers still convert on their own account, 
cloth printing tends to follow bleaching and dyeing and become 
a commission or jobbing trade. A few converters, it may be 
stated, carry on a wholesale business. On the other hand, 
the cutters-up, or ready-made garment manufacturers and 
shirt, collar, and cuff makers, occasionally invade the conver- 
ter's field and buy goods in the gray to be converted on their 
account. One of these firms, Cluett, Peabody & Company, 
has recently purchased a bleaching plant to be operated in con- 
nection with its collar factory. Yet, notwithstanding these 
variations in practice, experience in this country and abroad 
indicates that the merchant-converter will probably be increas- 
ingly important in the future. 2 

1 Dockham's Directory listed 108 converters in New York in 1907 and the Blue 
Book Directory enumerated 181 in the same city in 191 1. These were not merely 
merchant-converters, however, but included manufacturing converters. 

2 It also seems probable that a cotton goods exchange will be organized in New 



21 8 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The cloth may go through many hands, therefore, after it is 
woven. If the manufacturer employs selling agents, the cloth 
is handled by them, at least on their books. Then a broker 
may aid in selling it to a converter who has it finished before 
passing it on to the cutter-up, the wholesaler, or the retailer. 
So that from the time it leaves the mill till it is placed upon the 
counter in the retail store, it has been the subject for possibly 
five or six different transactions. Not all cloth goes through 
so many hands. It may be sold directly by the mill to a large 
retailer. For example the large department stores are seeking 
to deal directly with the manufacturers and converters and to 
buy from the jobbers only when the latter are " caught long " 
and are willing to make concessions on prices. But a large 
quantity of cloth is handled by all the various agents and middle- 
men that have been described. 

Emit goods are sold either direct or by a selling house. A 
broker may take part in the selling of the goods, but his place 
is not large, and the converter has no place at all since the goods 
are usually finished at the mills where they are made. Some 
lines are sold ahead, but the bulk of the goods are staples so that 
they can be carried in stock if the mill has not enough orders 
on hand to take all that it produces. Though some of the mills 
produce specialities, the greater part of the trade is in standard 
products which are sold as cotton cloth is sold and frequently 
through the same channels. 

The chief market centre for all kinds of cotton goods is New 
York, where in Worth Street and its neighborhood the offices 
of selling houses, brokers, and converters, and the establishments 
of numerous jobbers are located. Although the volume of 
business transacted in Boston is still large and the western 
markets are constantly increasing in importance, the trade 
gravitates toward New York. That city is the centre of the 
import and export trade, and its position at the head of our 
financial and commercial system helps 'to make it the leading 
American dry goods market. 

York. The increase in the number of brokers and converters will necessitate the 
establishment of some means of concentrating the market. 



THE CLOTH MARKET 219 

To summarize the present tendencies in the development of 
the organization of the American cloth market, merchandizing 
is becoming more diversified and more specialized. The selling 
house is apparently less important than formerly except in a 
few special branches. It might lose its hold there, even, since 
the mills manufacturing fancy seasonal goods are large and 
might open their own selling offices, were it not that these are 
the mills in which the old selling houses have the largest holdings 
of stock. For the sale of gray cloth the selling house seems to 
be losing ground. On the other hand, the broker is gaining 
a stronger foothold. But it is the merchant-converter who is 
coming most rapidly to the front. 



CHAPTER XII 

EXPORT TRADE 

Soon after the manufacture of cotton cloth was firmly estab- 
lished in New England, the mills began to export part of their 
product, and the amount slowly increased until in i860 the 
export trade in cotton goods was valued at ten million dollars. 
The war, however, cut off the export trade by greatly diminish- 
ing the quantity of goods manufactured and upsetting price 
levels, and it was not till 1877 that the figure of i860 was again 
reached. From 1877 to 1896, although the exports of cotton 
manufactures fluctuated, the average was nearly constant, 
but since the latter date there has been an enlargement of the 
foreign market. 

Average Annual Exports of Cotton Goods 1 

(In Millions) 

Total Uncolored Cloth Colored Cloth Other 

1856-60 $7-5 $2.4 $2.3 $2.8 

1861-65 3.7 .4 .9 2.4 

1866-70 4.1 .9 .3 2.8 

1871-7S 3-1 i-7 -6 -7 

1876-80 IO.O 6.1 2.6 1.2 

1881-85 13.O 8.0 2.9 2.1 

1886-90 12.4 7.4 3.2 1.6 

1891-95 13.3 7-7 3-0 2.5 

1896-1900 20.4 11.6 4.4 4.3 

1901-05 31.3 17.2 7.0 7.0 

1906-10 35.1 16.8 7.2 II.O 

The first point in the above table to attract attention is the 
preponderance of uncolored cloth in the exports, and it is in the 
main not only uncolored but also unbleached. When the 
export trade revived in the latter half of the 'seventies, un- 
colored cloth was in the lead and ever since has continued to 
predominate. That indicates the general character of our 
exports of cotton goods. 

1 U. S. Statistical Abstract, 1910, p. 491. 
220 



EXPORT TRADE 221 

The exports from year to year seem to conform to no well- 
defined tendencies, varying only in accordance with the state 
of the markets at home and abroad. But dividing the trade 
into periods we can see certain fundamental influences at work. 
From the close of the war in 1865 till the panic of 1873 the 
industry was in a state of convalescence and recuperation. 
The depression after the commercial disasters of, 1873 caused the 
manufacturers to seek new markets. Later the return to sound 
currency and the technical progress of the industry aided them 
in their attempts to dispose of fabrics in foreign countries. 
For twenty years, however, they did not energetically push 
their wares in the new fields, but were content to let the foreign 
market serve merely as a safety valve in keeping the home 
market fairly stable. 

The panic of 1893 again cut down the domestic trade of the 
cotton manufacturers, as well as of other manufacturers, and 
once more they began to look further afield. At that time, 
as during the beginning of the previous period, special influences 
made themselves felt. The ring spindle had been greatly im- 
proved and the Northrop loom was just coming into use, thus 
enabling them to meet their foreign competitors to better advan- 
tage. Moreover the pressure on the home market from the large 
additional output of the southern mills accentuated the desire 
to dispose of more goods outside of the country. Some of these 
southern mills gave themselves over entirely to manufacturing 
for export; sixty per cent of the total exports in 1 899-1 900 
came from the South and South Carolina alone supplied 
nearly one-half of the entire exports of cotton cloth. 1 The 
export trade reached its highest point in 1906, falling off with 
the speculative advance in prices just before the panic of 1907, 
and affected during the next two years by the instability of 
market conditions and the unusually high prices of cotton. 

Of the various fields for the further expansion of the export 
trade in cotton goods manufactured in the United States, Canada 
is, perhaps, the most promising and that trade will develop of 
itself, hindered only by artificial tariff barriers. Europe, on 

1 12th U. S. Census, vol. ix, p. 25. 



222 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

the contrary, on account of commercial restrictions and local 
production, offers little chance to the American cotton manu- 
facturer. In South America, Central America, and Africa, 
however, as well as in China and other parts of Asia, a trade 
much larger than at present could probably be secured if proper 
methods were adopted. It is to the peculiarities of these neutral 
markets that special attention is to be given. 

By showing the distribution of the exports of cotton manufac- 
tures since 1891 according to the larger geographical divisions 
we can distinguish some of the characteristics of the trade. 

Exports of Cotton Manufactures from the United States 1 

{In Millions) 
North and 
Central America South America Europe Asia Other 

1891 $3.0 $2.2 $1.2 $5.8 $1.2 

1892 3.1 2.8 .9 4.5 1.7 

1893 4.1 3.1 1.0 2.0 1.3 

i894 4-6 3-3 i-5 3-4 1.2 

1895 4-5 3-6 1.3 2.5 1.6 

1896 5.7 3-3 i-4 4-9 i-3 

1897 5-7 2.8 1.7 9.1 1.4 

1898 4.8 2.3 1.5 6.9 1.2 

1899 6.5 2.7 1.4 11.3 1.2 

1900 7.5 2.0 1.9 11.0 1.6 

1901 6.6 3.3 2.7 6.3 1.2 

1902 6.6 3.0 2.4 18.2 1.7 

1903 7.2 4.0 2.6 16.3 1.9 

1904 • 7-8 3-6 2.7 6.3 1.7 

1905 9-i 4-i 2.4 3i-3 2.5 

1906 10.1 3.6 3.6 32.9 2.5 

1907 10.9 3.8 4.2 9.2 4.2 

1908 10.1 2.7 4.4 5.2 2.6 

1909 11. 5 • 3.0 3.7 10.6 3.0 

1910 I2 -5 3-3 4-8 7-5 5-2 

The exports to South America, Europe, Africa, and Australasia 
have increased somewhat in value, yet are of relatively minor 
importance. The course of that trade contrasts with the steady 
rise of exports to North and Central America, particularly to 
Canada. Located close at hand and forming part of the same 

1 U. S. Bureau of Statistics, Exports of Manufactures from the U. S., 1 800-1 go6 
(1907), p. 17; and annual U. S. Commerce and Navigation Reports. 



EXPORT TRADE 223 

general market area as the United States, with similar economic 
conditions, it is but natural that Canada should purchase cotton 
goods in this country. Here is an opportunity for our cotton 
manufacturers which holds forth many possibilities for the 
future. True, Canada may develop cotton manufacturing 
within her borders from the nucleus already established. Yet 
New England with its superior climate, its shipping facilities, 
and the advantages accruing to the industry from long estab- 
lishment should be in a superior position for many years, and the 
South should also be able to get a share in the trade. The 
obstacle in the way has been the tariff, — Canada's tariff on 
imports of cottons and our tariff on the various products which 
we might obtain from Canada. It will be a short-sighted policy 
for the American cotton manufacturers not to do all in their 
power, even to giving up some of their own cherished protec- 
tion, to promote a liberal reciprocity treaty. 

The countries to the south of us, Mexico, Central America, 
and the West Indies, fall into the same category as South America 
and Africa. The conditions encountered there are different 
and special efforts will have to be put forth if a larger trade is 
to be built up. That attention has not yet been bestowed, 
and the English, Germans, and to a less extent the other 
Europeans, have not only taken advantage of the allegiance 
of colonial subjects and former fellow-citizens to push their 
goods, but have also established closer commercial relations 
by means of steamship lines, banking houses, and other mer- 
cantile connections. They have made a vigorous and continu- 
ous effort to expand their markets. 

Asia, the ancient home of the cotton manufacturing industry, 
with its millions of consumers, now affords the largest market 
for cotton cloth manufactured in the Occident. British India 
alone takes over a hundred million dollars worth of cotton cloth 
from Great Britain each year besides smaller quantities from 
Germany and the United States. The Asiatic markets receive, 
on the average, more of the cotton goods exported from America 
than are sent by us to any of the other grand geographical 
divisions, but the trade is less stable than that with Canada. 



224 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

China is the chief foreign recipient of American cotton manu- 
factures and it is to the Chinese market that the most attention 
has been given. A similar position was held by China prior 
to the American Civil War; in i860, for instance, she took 
thirty-five per cent of our total exports of cotton fabrics. With 
the upward movement of the foreign trade in American cotton 
goods in the 'seventies China was in the forefront, and ever 
since that time the great fluctuation in those exports has been 
due to the varying quantities shipped to China. Her demands 
have been affected by internal disturbances and the changes 
in prices. The ebb and flow of this trade is indicated by the 
following statement of the values of cotton cloth exported 
from the United States to China: — 1874, $200,000; 1881, 
$4,300,000; 1890, $1,400,000; 1906, $29,800,000; and 1908, 
$3,400,000. The present reaction has been caused by a cessa- 
tion of the speculative demand that had arisen during the 
Russo-Japanese War and also by the upward course of the 
prices of raw cotton. This trade, we may conclude, is still 
casual and unstable in amount. 

The British exports of cotton goods to China, on the con- 
trary, are steady in volume and average from twenty-five to 
thirty million dollars annually. This is due to the care exercised 
by the British in regulating the quality of the product so as to 
avoid altering the price each season. Together Great Britain 
and the United States supply over nine-tenths of the total 
cotton cloth imported into China, — one hundred and eleven 
million out of one hundred and seventeen million taels in 1905. 1 
But each of the two countries has a special field in which its 
influence predominates and in which the demands are for certain 
special kinds of cloth. American sheetings and drills control 
the market in Manchuria, whereas English shirtings and light 
sheetings hold sway in southern China. 

Of the cotton piece goods which are imported into Man- 
churia, it is stated that seven-eighths are from the United 
States. 2 These goods are used for the clothing of natives too 

1 H. B. Morse, Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire, p. 286. 

2 Foreign Markets for the Sale of American Cotton Products (1907), p. 14. 



EXPORT TRADE 225 

impecunious to buy fabrics made of other material, and yet 
requiring protection against a rigorous climate. " They dress 
in padded clothes made of two thicknesses of cloth with cotton 
sewed in between. Sheeting is often used for the inside and 
drills for the outside thickness. Both trousers and coats are so 
padded, and this padded cloth has become the distinctive dress 
of the northern Chinamen. In winter they usually wear five or 
six coats, one over the other." 1 Shanghai is the port of entry 
whence the American cotton manufactures are distributed by 
Chinese importers. The cloth is usually imported in the gray, 
but, as white is a badge of mourning in that country, it has to 
be dyed. 2 The dyeing is done by commission dyers in small 
primitive shops, the color and shade, usually blue, being adapted 
to the tastes of the local merchants. 

The quality of the American cloth has enabled it to extend 
and retain its market, since the English manufacturers have 
not found it possible to offer pure-sized goods at so low a price 
as that quoted by the American manufacturers. In this trade, 
as is also the case in the trade in parts of Africa and other coun- 
tries, the trade mark is the standard according to which the 
sales are made. These trade marks, or " chops," with long 
established reputations, such as the " Indian Head," " Beaver," 
"Flying Horse," "Dog and Deer," "Buffalo," and others, 3 
are a valuable asset to their owners. 

In southern China the English have the upper hand, partly 
because the Americans have made no serious attempt to enter 
the field, and partly because of the trade conditions. The 
demand in the southern district is for light sheetings and shirt- 
ings, 4 particularly the latter. It is said that the English white 
shirtings have an advantage because of better finish. But of 
more importance is the preference of the dealers for goods which 
have filling stripes in the head end, 5 stripes produced by weaving 
in either coarser filling or tinsel. This means that each partic- 
ular order has to be cared for separately, a practice not consistent 

1 Foreign Markets, etc., p. 21. 

2 Ibid., p. 28. 4 Ibid., p. 65. 

3 Ibid., p. 36. 5 Ibid., p. 67. 



226 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

with present American methods of producing large quantities 
of a single pattern. The additional cost of weaving in these 
stripes could be overcome by developing a large trade with 
customers in different places, who would be willing to accept 
the same stripe as merchants in other towns provided each had 
a monopoly in his own neighborhood. Such an elaborate foreign 
market organization, however, has not yet been adopted by 
American manufacturers and exporters of cotton goods. 

The reasons for the lack of a more vigorous export trade in 
American cotton fabrics can be classed under two heads, (i) those 
over which the manufacturers or merchants have no immediate 
control and (2) those with which they alone are concerned. 
The former comprises better shipping facilities and better bank- 
ing accommodations. More frequent communication by water 
with South America would, perhaps, encourage the South 
American dry goods buyers to visit the American market instead 
of going only to Europe. Yet, on the whole, the shipping 
service with South America seems to be adequate for the present 
volume of commerce. 1 Additional steamship lines from the 
United States to that country and other parts of the world 
would doubtless be established, provided there were prospects 
of an adequate traffic in cotton cloth and other goods from 
the United States. In this way a relaxation of our prohib- 
itive tariff policy might be expected to react upon the export 
trade. 

For promoting commerce with foreign countries, banking and 
credit institutions are essential, but few American institutions 
have been established in those parts of the world where they 
could be utilized by American cotton manufacturers and mer- 
chants. Experience in this direction must be acquired and new 
methods adopted. 2 Nevertheless it seems highly probable 
that adequate banking facilities, as well as shipping, would be 
provided were it evident that there was sufficient trade to 
make it profitable. 

1 D. Kinky, " The Promotion of Trade with South America," American Eco- 
nomic Review, vol. i, p. 65. 

2 Ibid., p. 68. 



EXPORT TRADE 227 

The American cotton manufacturers, in the next place, are 
charged with not meeting the situation, with showing a dis- 
regard for the needs of individual markets. This disregard 
manifests itself in various ways, but can be summed up by saying 
that they do not cater to the demands of the merchants in the 
foreign countries. For one thing, they are unwilling, the con- 
suls state, 1 to grant as long credits as the German merchants. 
Yet this factor is undoubtedly over-emphasized, since the 
English do not, as a rule, give long credits, 2 and they are the 
ones whose competition is the keenest. 

American goods, secondly, are not infrequently packed in 
such a way that they are injured by the rough usage to which 
the bales or boxes are subjected. Almost every consular report 
which mentions cotton goods has something to say concerning 
the lax methods of packing in this country. These complaints 
have such a similarity that if there were not more definite 
evidence than most of these reports furnish, one might suspect 
that they were not always based upon careful investigation, 
but merely included on general principles by a consul who needs 
must send some report and find some fault. We have, however, 
specific examples. In packing the cotton cloth sent to China, 
too narrow ties are frequently used in fastening the bales, with 
the result that these ties cut into the bales and injure the goods. 
The English carefully put in additional waterproof wrappings, 
and for the finer goods, which are packed in cases, use heavy 
boxes lined with tin, whereas the American shippers pack their 
goods in more fragile cases not tin-lined. 3 

The cancellation of sales by American manufacturers is not 
so rare as to be passed over without mention. It occasionally 
happens that when trade is dull at home a cotton manufacturer 
by solicitation secures an order in China or elsewhere, but 
with a revival of business in this country he finds that he can 
sell his goods to better account here and therefore cancels the 

1 See, for example, Foreign Markets, etc., p. 82; U. S. Special Consular Reports, 
vol. xxxvi, p. 235. 

2 Foreign Markets, etc., p. 99. 

3 Ibid., pp. 69-70. 



228 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

former contract. 1 This involves a loss to the Chinese merchant 
who is thereby disgruntled and unlikely to look with favor 
upon such offers in the future. If the sale is not actually can- 
celled, the delivery may be delayed, and again it is the foreign 
merchant who suffers. Suppose a consignment of cotton goods 
ordered for October does not arrive in Shanghai till November. 
Then cold weather may have locked up the northern harbors 
so that the goods will have to be warehoused at Shanghai for 
four months, the importer paying the charges. 2 A consul in 
Australia reported in 1905 that " in one instance one of the 
leading importers (in Victoria) had cotton goods delivered 
eighteen months after date, and in another instance had de- 
liveries three months after due date, with the result that the 
market was entirely lost." 3 These are not regular occurrences, 
to be sure, for otherwise our exporters would experience even 
greater difficulty in securing orders. They merely illustrate 
the lack of seriousness with which several of our manufacturers 
seek foreign outlets. 

The American manufacturers, finally, have not attempted, 
with a few exceptions, to meet the demands of the local trade in 
the various foreign countries. They have not sent out trained 
agents equipped with a knowledge of the foreign language to 
study the conditions and solicit orders, nor have they estab- 
lished branches in the commercial cities whereby they could 
carry on transactions with the native merchants. Every 
manufacturer of finished cotton goods knows that the tastes 
of the inhabitants of the different sections of the United States, 
even, are not the same, and that one sort of goods is suited to 
one section, another sort to a different part of the country. 
How much more important are the divergences in taste between 
this country and the foreign countries! Yet it has usually 
been assumed that goods for which there was a demand here 
could be sold in Cuba or Venezuela, in Madagascar or British 
India. They have made goods which suited their own con- 

1 Foreign Markets, etc., p. 71. 

2 Ibid., p. 72. 

3 U. S. Special Consular Reports, vol. xxxvi, p. 306. 



EXPORT TRADE 229 

venience, not what their prospective (foreign) customers desired. 
Moreover they have been unwilling to make up packages con- 
taining a variety of patterns, although such requests have been 
acceded to by German and English shippers, who have not 
tried to force the foreign buyer to accept a large quantity of a 
single design or quality. These are the real obstacles to the 
expansion of our foreign trade in cotton fabrics. 

That our trade has reached its present size is not due to 
any special effort, therefore, on the part of our cotton manufac- 
turers. In this connection the Census of 1905 remarked that 
" the export trade, — that with China as well as with other 
countries, — may be described as an accident rather than a 
business. Up to a certain point it grew rather than was 
created." * Furthermore, the character of the trade with 
northern China, our largest customer, does not impose the 
same conditions as the trade with most other foreign coun- 
tries. The Manchurian market demands heavy gray goods of 
plain texture such as our mills can make in large quantities 
at a small labor cost. 

For the manufacturer himself to cater to the demands of 
foreign merchants in other countries for a variety of designs, 
and to send cases of assorted patterns would not be consistent 
with the methods usually followed in this country. Such action 
would dissipate the advantages of large scale production of 
standardized goods by means of which our labor cost has been 
cut down. Nor would the American manufacturer, under pres- 
ent conditions, find it advantageous to try to keep his quota- 
tions in foreign markets stable by varying the quality of the 
product so as to offset changes in the cost of cotton or of 
labor. In fact, one of the most valuable assets of the American 
exporter is the reputation which American goods enjoy for their 
consistently high quality. 

If a manufacturer were to undertake to develop the markets 
into which American cotton goods have not yet been pushed, 
he would have to alter his present methods of manufacture. 
This he will not do as long as the home market offers the same 

1 U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 74, p. 35. 



230 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

opportunities which it has furnished in the past. It is to the 
needs of the domestic market that he has, properly, directed 
his attention, instead of entering into competition with the 
English and Germans who have a superior export market organ- 
ization and smaller scale of production. The time will come, 
however, when pressure from within will spur on our cotton 
manufacturers to try to find some way of successfully combat- 
ing the Europeans in the neutral markets. Can this be done 
without reorganizing our present system of production? It 
can, it seems to me, but not wholly by the manufacturers 
themselves. Their part consists in reducing the cost of pro- 
duction, if it is still above that in Europe, by means of new 
inventions and superior organization. That in itself, however, 
will not be sufficient, but must be supplemented by an elabo- 
rated market organization. 

The spurt which our exports of cotton goods have taken 
during the last fifteen years has led to the establishment of new 
facilities for the trade. Trading companies have been formed 
for disposing of American cotton goods in China. These trad- 
ing companies are in constant cable communication with the 
Chinese markets on the one hand, and on the other are imme- 
diately in touch with the brokers through whom they buy the 
cloth from selling agents who keep them informed as to prices. 1 
The native merchant in China desiring to purchase cotton 
goods goes to one of the foreign importers in his locality, who 
procures the cloth from an exporter in New York. The com- 
bined compensation of the exporter and importer is a com- 
mission of one and one-half per cent on the total which includes 
f.o.b. cost, freight to destination, and marine insurance. 2 Docu- 
mentary drafts form the basis for the financing of the trade. 
The middlemen are necessary not only for ease in obtaining the 
goods but particularly for maintaining the credit arrangements, 
since the documents must bear the name of some well known 
merchant before a banking house will advance cash on them. 

1 U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 74, p. 36. 

2 Howard Ayres, "Certain Aspects of the Export Trade," National Association 
of Cotton Manufacturers, Transactions, no. 28, p. 144. 



EXPORT TRADE 23 1 

Although this may well serve as a nucleus for the organiza- 
tion of a larger trade, it is insufficient even for the trade with 
China where the demand is for standard goods manufactured 
by a comparatively small number of mills. Judging from the 
experience of other countries, we may say that an export trade 
in cotton goods involves a highly developed mercantile system. 
It is necessary to have merchants who can study the demand, 1 
accept small orders, and if necessary pack the goods in assorted 
lots. They would collect a number of orders for a single pattern 
and thus be able to take large quantities from the manufacturer. 
The merchant is also essential for purposes of credit, and to him 
should fall the duty of ascertaining the reliability of the foreign 
purchasers and of assuming the risk involved in foreign trade. 2 
Specialization is as important in merchandizing as in manufac- 
turing, and, in time, when capital and experience have been 
gained, on the basis already established a distributing organiza- 
tion may be effected which will be as efficient as the manufac- 
turing organization. 

1 An effort in this direction was made in 1909, but it is too early to judge whether 
or not it is to be seriously continued. " An extension of international banking 
facilities is now under way by which domestic merchants anticipate a broadening 
of cotton goods trading with South America. Four of the largest New York houses 
have combined to send men over the territory to sell goods and to obtain first 
hand information of what the field offers in the way of special opportunity for 
fabrics that find a ready market in other countries." — Chamber of Commerce 
of the State of New York, 52d Annual Report, p. 92. 

2 See article by W. C. Downs, " Commission House in Latin American Trade," 
Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol, xxvi, pp, 1 18-139. 



CHAPTER Xin 

IMPORT TRADE 

Cloth and Fancy Goods 

The import trade, unlike the export trade, does not lack an 
elaborate mercantile organization. External factors, however, 
particularly the tariff, have exerted more influence on the growth 
of the volume of imports than methods of purchasing. Inas- 
much as reference to the American trade will be made in the 
later chapter on European market organization, the manner 
in which the import business is transacted will be but briefly 
outlined before proceeding to the history of the tariff on cotton 
products. 

Imported goods are no longer consigned to merchants in Bos- 
ton, New York, or Philadelphia to be auctioned off as in the 
early years of the nineteenth century. Nor are they imported by 
the owners of the vessels, as in the days of the old Asiatic trade. 
Regular ocean steamers, whose trip is measured in days instead 
of weeks or months, and trans-oceanic telegraph cables have 
brought about a more systematic method of trading. This 
has been followed by a diversification of the import market 
organization. 

Foreign producers and merchants sell a small quantity of 
cotton goods in the United States by means of private salesmen 
or branch offices in New York. A somewhat larger quantity, 
it appears, is consigned to New York houses by the manufac- 
turers, the consignee usually selling on commission. The 
consignment trade has dwindled, however, because of its unsat- 
isfactoriness. The shipper can never be sure of what price he 
will receive and is occasionally disappointed. The consign- 
ment business is also said to have suffered from the imposition 
of specific in the place of ad valorem duties, which lessened the 
possibility of securing additional profit from selling the goods 

at a price above that stated in the invoice. Another trade 

232 



IMPORT TRADE 233 

which has almost disappeared is that of the commission im- 
porter, who obtains goods in Europe to fill specific orders. 
Finally, there is a minor trade by correspondence, the ordering 
of goods by letter or cable on the basis of specification or sample. 
The bulk of the imports, however, are bought through other 
channels. 

The importers of cotton products who predominate in this 
market are American jobbers and retailers. They are nearly 
all large concerns; the retailers who import directly are mainly 
the big department stores. These importers, both jobbers 
and retailers, regularly send buyers to Europe to make their 
purchases. The number of buyers sent by a single house depends 
on the volume and diversity of its trade. The largest importers 
send fifty or seventy-five buyers to the European dry goods 
markets twice a year. Each buyer then confines his purchases 
to a single narrow line. To conduct trade on such a large 
scale, to attend to inter-season orders, and to superintend the 
financing of the business and the shipment of the goods, it is 
necessary for these importers to have representatives in the 
European markets. Some maintain their own branch offices 
in Manchester, Nottingham, Paris, Chemnitz, and other cities, 
but for others a commission agent suffices. More will be said 
on that point later. 

The American importers can afford to send their buyers on 
the long journey only because they buy in large quantities. 
They are able, no doubt, to select the most desirable patterns 
and to secure the most favorable terms by transacting the 
business on the spot. But the volume of trade is the deter- 
mining factor. The American houses pay cash immediately 
after delivery and thus obtain higher discounts than those 
who purchase on three or six months' credit. 

Aside from the department stores, there are few retailers 
who can undertake to purchase directly in the European market. 
They lack credit facilities and could not ordinarily place suffi- 
ciently large orders. It is the wholesale importer who finances 
the trade and parcels out the goods to the ordinary retailer. 
The department stores have encroached upon the wholesale 



234 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

importer's field, but the elimination of the latter could be brought 
about only through the crowding out of all the smaller retailers 
by department stores or similarly large establishments. 

Direct buying is one of the means by which the cost of impor- 
tation has been reduced and the burden of the tariff lightened. 
Lower freight rates, more regular communication, and better 
banking accommodations have exerted an influence in the same 
direction. But the tariff itself has not been appreciably lowered 
since the inception of the high protectionist regime during the 
Civil War. It is to a history of these tariff schedules that we 
will now turn, after a statement of the course of the import 
trade. 

From i860 to 1900 the total value of the imports of cotton 
manufactures, — including not only cloth but yarn, embroid- 
eries, laces, and knit goods, increased but slightly, yet during 
the last decade there has been a marked advance as is shown 
by the following statistics. 

Cotton Manufactures Imported into the United States 

{Average annual value in millions) 

Furnish- Knit 
Total Cloth Laces Yam ings Goods Other 

1855-60 $28.1 $19.6 $.9 $1.4 $— » $3.0 $2.9 

1861-65 13.9 6.3 .5 I.I — l 1.1 5.5 

1866-70 23.2 10.2 .9 .9 .6 4.5 5.8 

1871-75 31-2 8.3 —I —A —a 5-I I7 . 7 

1876-80 22.1 2.7 - 1 — 1 — 1 5.1 14.I 

1881-85 3i-7 3-2 4.0 -3 -2 7-5 16.2 

1886-90 28.8 3.5 10.8 .8 .3 6.7 6.4 

1891-95 29.4 4.7 10.8 .6 1.7 5.9 5.4 

1896-1900 33.4 6.0 13.7 1.0 1.7 4.9 5.8 

1901-05 47-i 7-7 23.7 2.1 2.0 5.8 5.6 

1906-10 66.7 11.3 35.7 3.5 3.5 7.6 5.0 

The significance which is to be attached to each group of 
imports depends upon the connection in which it is considered, 
whether the interest is primarily in the part it plays in the 
total imports, or in comparison to the total home production. 
Both deserve attention, but especially the latter, since that 
involves the effect of the protective duties which have been 
imposed from time to time. 

1 Included in " Other." 



IMPORT TRADE 235 

The importation of yarn is, on the whole, the least important. 
The statistics in the above table do not include spool thread in 
the same group with yarn but class it with the miscellaneous 
articles. Thus the figures represent only yarn or thread which 
is imported to be used for further manufacture. The organiza- 
tion of the industry whereby spinning and weaving are united 
in the same plant has limited the demand for foreign yarn. The 
imports are chiefly the finest counts and a few specialties which 
are not manufactured in this country. The tariff has somewhat 
restricted the quantity imported, but too much influence should 
not be accredited to it. 

The spinners, fearing foreign competition, have requested a 
high tariff and their wishes have been gratified. Under the 
tariff of 1857 1 cotton yarn paid a duty of nineteen per cent 
ad valorem. In 1861 it was raised to thirty per cent. In 1862, 
under the pressure for revenue to carry on the war and to com- 
pensate the American manufacturers for the heavy taxes to which 
they were subjected, it became thirty-five per cent, and on 
March 3, 1865 it was made four cents per hank (840 yards) 
plus 30 per cent ad valorem. 

During the war period, then, the duty on yarn was raised, 
but till 1865 it was ad valorem. In 1870 a special act was 
passed, affecting only the duty on cotton yarn, by which such 
yarn was divided into four classes, according to value, and a 
compound specific and ad valorem duty placed on each. These 
duties were equivalent to an ad valorem duty varying from 
forty-five per cent upwards. 

This duty was not disturbed again till 1883, except for the 
ten per cent provisions of 1872 and 1875 which applied alike 
to all import duties. In the act of 1883 the number of classes 
into which cotton yarn was divided was increased to eight, 
and the duties, except on the highest class, made entirely specific. 
These specific duties were somewhat lower on the coarser grades 
than those collected under the previous law, while on the finest 
counts, which constituted the bulk of the imports, they were 

1 For the earlier history of the tariff on cotton goods, F. W. Taussig, Tariff 
History, should be consulted. 



236 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

fully as high. As the results showed, the average duty was 
equivalent to about forty-six per cent. The treatment of this 
schedule was an instance of the way in which the various sched- 
ules in the tariff on cotton manufactures were handled at that 
time and at succeeding tariff revisions. The House bill, which 
proposed lower duties, was materially changed by the Finance 
Committee of the Senate, 1 and although minor reductions in 
the rates were made by compromise, the Senate Committee 
had substantially its own way. 

The McKinley Act did not alter the cotton yarn tariff, except 
to raise the duties on the classes valued from 25 cents to 60 
cents per pound. The result was to make the average duty 
on yarn the equivalent of fifty per cent. 

In 1894 the House sought to reduce the duties on cotton yarn 
to ad valorem rates varying from twenty to forty per cent. 
The Finance Committee of the Senate was not to be denied, 
however, and when the bill emerged from their hands an entirely 
new scheme had been introduced by which the duties proposed 
by the House were raised, although somewhat lower than those 
of the previous act. The Senate's arrangement was incor- 
porated in the act as it was finally passed. The schedule was 
complex, and its importance is not great enough to deserve an 
extended analysis. Suffice it to say that the ad valorem equiva- 
lent of the duties on yarn collected in the year 1895-96 was 
nearly thirty-eight per cent. 

The duties on cotton yarn were changed in 1897 by adding a 
new class in bleached, colored, and doubled yarn, and enlarging 
one of the former classes. The provisions that the duty should 
not exceed certain maxima and that all yarn valued at more than 
forty cents per pound should pay forty-five per cent were re- 
pealed, leaving only specific duties. These alterations were 
unimportant. 

Nor was there any material change in 1909. 2 The duty on the 
coarsest numbers of gray, carded yarn (not doubled), not exceed- 

1 Congressional Record, Feb. 3, 1883, p. 2022. 

2 The whole cotton schedule of the Tariff of 1909 was discussed by the author 
in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. xxiv, pp. 422 ff. 



IMPORT TRADE 237 

ing No. 15, was cut from three to two and one-half cents per 
pound; on Nos. 16 to 30 from one-fifth of a cent per number 
per pound to one-sixth of a cent; and on all yarn over No. 30 
from one-fourth to one-fifth of a cent per number per pound. 
But the duty on colored, combed, or doubled yarn was left 
practically unchanged, and a slightly higher tax imposed on yarn 
finer than No. 200. The duty remains fairly high on the finer 
and more costly yarns, and thus accounts in part for the small 
importations. 

Cotton thread on spools is not included with the other cotton 
yarn, and as the importations are small the statistics are com- 
bined with those for miscellaneous items. A separate provision 
for spool cotton was not made in the tariff till 1862 when the 
duty was fixed at forty per cent. In 1864 thread was subjected 
to a tax of six cents per dozen spools of not over 100 yards 
each, plus thirty per cent ad valorem. For every 100 yards 
additional per spool an equal amount was to be paid. In 1865 
a slight change was made, the duty on spools containing not over 
100 yards remained the same, but for every additional 100 
yards per spool the ad valorem part of the duty was to be 
thirty-five per cent. The Act of 1883 substituted for these 
duties a plain specific duty of seven cents per dozen on spools 
containing not over 100 yards with an equal amount for each 
100 yards in excess of that quantity. The later acts similarly 
fixed 100 yards as the standard and made analogous provisions 
for all excess. The Wilson Act of 1894, the next one affecting 
spool cotton, reduced the rate to five and one-half cents per 
dozen spools, but the Dingley Act put it up again to six cents, 
where it still remains. 

The duty on spool cotton, although now lower than the War 
rate, has been really protective, in fact almost prohibitive. 
The shelter which it has afforded has induced English thread 
manufacturers to establish plants in this country and to secure 
control of American thread mills, so that the American house- 
wives may pay them tribute. The concerns manufacturing 
this product are, as we have seen, controlled in England, and 
their profits have not been small. 



238 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The value of the imports of laces, embroideries, and such 
goods, has increased at a more rapid rate than the total imports. 
From 1885 to 1900 this class constituted over one- third of the 
total value of cotton manufactures imported into the United 
States, and since 1900 has been just about one-half. Compared 
with the domestic production of these goods, the importation 
is very important. The foreign products, however, are mainly 
of the finer grades, the manufacture of which has not yet been 
attempted in the United States. 

These fancy goods come from Switzerland, France, Germany, 
and England. Switzerland has always been the largest con- 
tributor and at the present time supplies about one-third of the 
total. France is now next in importance, although until ten 
years ago it was in a relatively inferior position. Comprised 
in this group are the braids and embroideries from Barmen, 
the laces from Nottingham, Gera, Plauen, Calais, St. Gall, and 
other centres, and miscellaneous specialties. In the manufacture 
of all these products the item of labor is very considerable, 
while for the better grades not only a large amount of labor, 
but highly skilled labor, is needed. The increase in the imports 
of these goods can be attributed largely to the accumulation 
of wealth in this country and is symptomatic of the increased 
expenditure for articles of luxury. 

The tariff has stimulated the production in America of a 
small quantity of lace of the plainer sort which can be manufac- 
tured by machinery in large quantities. For some years Con- 
gress has given the experimenters the assistance of a protective 
duty. From 1857 to 1861 the duty was nineteen per cent, for 
the next year thirty per cent, and from 1862 till 1883, except 
for the horizontal reduction of 1872, thirty-five per cent. The 
act of 1883 left the duty on cords and braids at thirty-five per 
cent, and raised that on laces and embroideries to forty per cent. 
It was altered but little in 1890, and today the various articles, 
though subject to somewhat different rates of duty, in the main 
pay forty-five and fifty per cent, practically the same tax as 
imposed in 1894. 



IMPORT TRADE 239 

The duties on these fancy goods have virtues which few of 
the other duties in the cotton schedule can claim. They yield 
a comparatively large revenue without at the same time bolster- 
ing up a weakling in this country. Moreover they are taxes 
which fall most heavily upon the classes of consumers who 
can best afford to pay them. To be sure, they have fostered 
the establishment of some plants in this country which have 
been transferred, workmen and all, from England and the Con- 
tinent. But not many laborers are supported at greater ex- 
pense in order that the product may be manufactured on this 
side of the Atlantic. 

The goods grouped under the head of " Furnishings " or, 
according to the Commerce and Navigation Reports, " Ready- 
made Clothing, " are analogous to those in the preceding class. 
They comprise handkerchiefs, mufflers, waists, skirts, and other 
articles of clothing. While the volume of imports of this class 
has become greater during the last twenty-five years, part of 
the increase is due to changes in classification whereby goods 
have been taken from the " basket clause " and separately 
enumerated. The furnishings are brought mainly from France 
and Germany, the latter alone providing about one-half of the 
total at the present time. 

The duty on this wearing apparel was thirty-five per cent, 
in the main, from 1864 till 1890, when it rose to fifty per cent. 
In 1894 it was reduced ten per cent, only to be replaced in 1897 
by a more complicated schedule with duties ranging from forty- 
five per cent upwards. 

The import trade in cloth has a more vital interest to the 
American cotton manufacturer, since cloth constitutes by far 
the largest part of the output of the cotton manufacturing 
industry in this country. The average imports of cloth in the 
quinquennium 1856-60 show the extent to which the American 
people relied upon foreign goods at the close of the first half of 
the century. The imports then were larger than ever before, 
although the industry in this country was in a flourishing con- 
dition. Prosperity had stimulated both. The next decade 
was a period of especial affliction for the cotton manufacturing 



240 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

industry, hence the imports have little significance. Nor can 
we assume that conditions became normal till about 1880. 
From that date onward the value of cotton cloth imported 
steadily increased. But the imports have not reached the 
level which existed prior to the war, and have not increased 
in anything like the same proportion as the output of cloth 
within the country. 1 

These imports are mostly of the fine and fancy grades, of 
high quality or of special design. About five-sixths of this 
cloth is imported from England at the present time, a little 
less than one-twelfth from France, and nearly all of the remainder 
from Germany and Switzerland in approximately equal amounts. 
England has been the chief source of supply through all the 
vicissitudes of the century, always having something finer or 
something more novel to offer when the American manufacturers 
closed what had previously been a lucrative opening. The 
increasing wealth of the American people has enabled them to 
afford more and more costly fabrics, and the distinction which 
attaches to imported cloth has kept up part of the trade that 
otherwise might have languished. 

The tariff act of 1857 imposed an ad valorem duty of nineteen 
per cent on gray cloth and twenty-four per cent on bleached, 
dyed, and printed cloth. With the recrudescence of protec- 
tionism and the pressure for revenue to carry on the pending 
war, the duties were increased in 186 1 and at the same time 
made specific. However the tariff could not supply raw cotton 
to relieve the mills from their peculiarly disadvantageous posi- 
tion during the subsequent years, notwithstanding the higher 
duties levied under the acts of 1862 and 1864. The horizontal 
reduction of ten per cent in 1872 and its restoration in 1875 
had slight effect. The depression which followed the panic 
of 1873 caused much greater disturbance to the dry goods trade 
than could be brought about by alterations in the tariff. 

The fiasco of 1883 is familiar to all students of our tariff 
history, and the duties on cotton cloth received treatment similar 
to that accorded those on other articles. The schedule for 

1 See ante, pp. 17, 22. 



IMPORT TRADE 24I 

cotton manufactures was simplified somewhat, particularly 
by eliminating the separate provision for jeans, denims, drill- 
ings, ginghams, plaids, etc., which, since 1862, had been subject 
to a duty different from that on other cloth. This classification 
has been confusing for obvious reasons. Hence by abolishing 
it the administration of the act was facilitated. Duties on the 
coarser cloth were cut down, but on the higher priced fabrics 
they were raised. A large class of goods which had previously 
been allowed to come in for thirty-five per cent now had to pay 
forty per cent. This forty per cent duty was levied on all goods 
above a certain value, those below that value paying specific 
rates. Although the ad valorem duty might be presumed to 
indicate the general scale intended, we find that in actual 
operation the specific duties were considerably higher. Con- 
sequently, in spite of the large proportion of imports which were 
sufficiently high in value to come in at the forty per cent rate, 
the greater weight of the other duties brought up the average 
duty on all cotton cloth to forty-four per cent. The nominal 
reduction in the duties on the lower grades was offset by the 
fall in the price of cloth, and since they were specific they con- 
tinued to be equivalent to an ad valorem duty fully as high, 
in most cases, as that collected under the previous act. 

In the tariff of 1890 the schedule was arranged on the same 
plan as in 1883, but it contained five classes instead of three, 
according to the number of threads per square inch. These 
five classes were (1) not exceeding fifty threads per square 
inch, (2) fifty to one hundred threads, (3) one hundred to one 
hundred and fifty threads, (4) one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred threads, and (5) over two hundred threads per square 
inch. On the first and second classes the specific duties, which 
applied to cloth below a certain value in each case, were reduced; 
and the ad valorem duty on cloth above that limit, which, 
by the way, was lower than previously, was cut down from 
forty per cent to thirty-five per cent. The specific duties on 
goods in the third class were reduced, but the ad valorem rate 
en the more valuable grades remained the same as before. Yet 
these changes were less important so far as protection and 



242 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

importation were concerned than those on the two higher classes. 
For the fourth class the specific duties were raised one-half 
cent per yard and the ad valorem duty increased from forty 
to forty-five per cent. The schedule for the highest grade 
received similar treatment. Throughout, as in previous laws, 
the ad valorem duties proved to be less than the ad valorem 
equivalent of the specific duties levied on the cloth below the 
minimum values. The net result of this act was to raise the 
average duty from forty-four per cent to over forty-seven per 
cent. The forces which were behind these advances do not 
appear on the surface, and the complexity of the schedules 
frustrated the efforts of the opponents of high protection to get 
at the facts. 

The Wilson Act of 1894 made but a slight breach in the walls 
of protection. It has been said that this act pleased no one, 
and very likely it was pleasing to few persons, either the advocates 
or the opponents of protection. Nevertheless it did satisfy 
the cotton manufacturers. The cotton cloth schedule was 
enlarged and made more complex. The same general classifica- 
tion according to number of threads per square inch was retained 
and special provisos were applied to all cloth over a certain value, 
but in addition the coarser cloth in each class was divided accord- 
ing to weight. Here is a sample, stripped of the legal verbiage. 

Cotton cloth exceeding one hundred and not exceeding one 
hundred and fifty threads to the square inch, counting both 
warp and filling, was to pay, if in the gray and not exceeding 
four square yards to the pound, one and one-half cents per 
square yard; exceeding four and not exceeding six square yards 
to the pound, two cents per square yard; exceeding six and not 
exceeding eight square yards to the pound, two and one-half 
cents; exceeding eight square yards to the pound, two and 
three-quarters cents; if bleached, two and one-half cents, three 
cents, three and one-half cents, and three and three-quarters 
cents per square yard, respectively, for each of the above classes 
according to weight; if colored, three and one-half cents, three 
and three-quarters cents, four and one-quarter cents, and four 
and one-half cents respectively. But it was also provided 



IMPORT TRADE 243 

that gray cloth valued at more than nine cents per square yard 
should pay thirty per cent; bleached valued at over eleven 
cents, thirty-five per cent; and colored valued at over twelve 
and one-half cents per square yard, thirty-five per cent. This 
is but one of five paragraphs, each of which was constructed 
on the same plan. 

What did it all amount to ? In the first place the specific 
duties for the heavier fabrics were lower than before, while on 
the finer grades they remained practically the same. The 
ad valorem rates on the more valuable textures in each class 
were diminished by about ten per cent. Nevertheless the 
average duty collected in 1895 on all cotton cloth was equiva- 
lent to slightly over forty-one per cent. 

This amplified plan, as stated above, met with the approval 
of the manufacturers, but to whom does the credit for its adop- 
tion belong, since the representatives of the cotton manufac- 
turing districts belonged to the party which was in a minority 
at the time ? The Finance Committee of the Senate was respon- 
sible. By this committee amendments were proposed which 
materially raised the rates of the House bill, and which were 
incorporated in the act as finally passed. When these amend- 
ments were offered in the Senate, they were accepted with 
remarkable rapidity and almost no debate. The silence of the 
opposition, particularly of the New England senators who had 
piloted the cotton schedules of previous acts, led Senator Dolph 
to comment on the absence of debate and to ask what that signi- 
fied. 1 In reply to Senator Dolph, Senator Aldrich said, " This 
schedule, which was prepared by a number of manufacturers of 
Fall River, so far as the price of cloth is concerned, is perhaps 
the most scientific schedule that has ever been devised upon 
the subject. " 2 He then went on to remark that the duties 
were not as high as the cotton manufacturers would like, but 
that they and their friends recognized the futility of opposition, 
and were satisfied with the mode of imposing the duties. 3 

1 Congressional Record, June 11, 1894, p. 6101. 2 Ibid., p. 6101. 

3 I am informed on what I believe to be credible authority that the plan was 
drawn up by a group of cotton manufacturers in Fall River, and that it was due 
to their efforts, primarily, that the scheme was adopted. The way in which it was 



244 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The arrangement of the schedule adopted in 1894 gratified 
all expectations, so that in 1897 it needed to be revised in only 
one or two respects. In the Dingley Law the duties on cloth 
containing less than two hundred threads were left untouched. 
But instead of a single class for all cloth over two hundred threads, 
a new division was introduced, — from two hundred to three 
hundred threads, and over three hundred threads. In each of 
these classes the specific duties on the heavier grades were 
made about one cent per yard higher than they had been in 
1894, a little lower in some cases than in 1890, in others slightly 
higher. And the cloth above a certain fixed value was to pay 
forty per cent. This new classification and the augmentation 
of the duties was, again, the work of the Senate. 

The schedule was once more amplified in 1909. Instead of a 
single ad valorem duty on all cloth above the specified value 
in each class, a comprehensive scheme was applied to the whole 
series of the " countable " paragraphs, whereby the duties on 
the more valuable cloth were increased. Specific duties were 
substituted for the ad valorem rates on the cloth which falls 
into the specified classes. These specific duties were ostensibly 
fixed at a point which would correspond to the specific duties 
levied on cloth below the previous minimum, and for all above 
the new minimum the former ad valorem rates were retained. 
As the specific duties had proved to be higher than the ad valo- 
rem rates, this meant an increase in duties in most instances, 
or at least their maintenance. 

accomplished illustrates the " scientific " care with which protective tariffs are 
promoted. After the scheme had been arranged, those in charge of it, as I have 
been told, called in a local Democratic politician of Fall River. This politician 
was a lawyer, whose clients were chiefly mill operatives with cases against the mill 
corporations for damages. He was informed by the local tariff committee that it 
was absolutely essential for the prosperity of the Fall River mills that the new 
schedule be embodied in the tariff law. The suggestion was made that if duties 
were reduced and a non-scientific schedule adopted, the closing of the mills would 
send away all of his supporters and destroy his law practice. His own future well- 
being was dependent, so he is said to have been told, upon the welfare of the work- 
men in the mills, and thus upon the prosperity of the mills themselves. Hence 
the Fall River politician, accompanied by a mill worker, went to Washington, it is 
said, and with such other aid as could be mustered, induced the Democratic leaders 
to adopt the new schedule of duties on cotton cloth. 



IMPORT TRADE 245 

A quotation from the law itself, in spite of its non-intelligi- 
bility to anyone except an expert, may, perhaps, show how the 
manoeuvre was effected. "317. Cotton cloth, not bleached, 
dyed, colored, stained, painted, or printed, exceeding one hun- 
dred and fifty and not exceeding two hundred threads to the 
square inch, counting the warp and filling, and not exceeding 
three and one-half square yards to the pound, two cents per 
square yard; exceeding three and one-half and not exceeding 
four and one-half square yards to the pound, two and three- 
fourths cents per square yard; exceeding four and one-half 
and not exceeding six square yards to the pound, three cents 
per square yard; exceeding six square yards to the pound, 
three and one-half cents per square yard ; any of the foregoing 
valued at over ten and not over twelve and one-half cents per square 
yard, four and three-eighths cents per square yard; valued at over 
twelve and one-half and not over fourteen cents per square yard, 
five and one-half cents per square yard; valued at over fourteen 
and not over sixteen cents per square yard, six and one-half cents 
per square yard; valued at over sixteen and not over twenty cents 
per square yard, eight cents per square yard; valued at over twenty 
cents per square yard, ten cents per square yard, but not less than 
thirty per cent ad valorem." This is one- third of one of the 
five paragraphs for cotton cloth. The italicised words indicate 
the new provisions. 

The reasons for these changes are apparent on an examina- 
tion of the importations under each sub-division and of the 
relative ad valorem equivalents of the duties levied. As the 
Dingley Act worked in practice, the specific duties on the coarser 
grades in each paragraph were higher (in ad valorem equivalent) 
than the ad valorem duty on cloth above the specified value. 
But by far the greater part of the cloth actually imported was 
above that value and therefore paid the ad valorem duty. By 
introducing the new specific duties graduated according to value 
and adjusted so as to correspond to the specific duties on the 
lower grades, the rate was, in most cases, increased above that 
actually paid from 1897 to 1909. Cloth which had been paying 
twenty-five, thirty, or thirty-five per cent, now has to pay the 



246 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

equivalent of about thirty-eight, forty, or even as much as fifty 
per cent. 

These manipulations were the work of that bulwark of protec- 
tion, the Finance Committee of the Senate. As had so frequently 
happened before, the manufacturers made no demands upon 
the House committee, except to request that the duties be 
undisturbed, 1 but when the bill reached the Senate they became 
active, and headed by certain men who were especially interested 
in the manufacture of the more costly goods which would benefit 
from the proposed increases in duties, were able to induce the 
Senate committee to accede to their wishes. The members 
of the committee were also willing to defend vigorously these 
duties when they were attacked in the Senate Chamber. 

The object in making these changes, as stated by Mr. Aldrich 
and his supporters, 2 was to restore the rates which it had been 
intended to levy under the act of 1897. Yet it must have been 
a gross oversight in that act if these ad valorem rates on cloth 
above the specified value — twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five per 
cent — were made five or ten per cent lower than was intended. 
Ad valorem duties are the simplest of all, and most clearly tell 
their own tale. Certain it is that in no case were the duties 
on cotton cloth lowered by the act of 1909, and that on the 
higher priced goods there was some increase. 

Another change in the act of 1909 was the introduction of a 
duty of one cent per square yard upon all mercerized cloth, in 
addition to the duty paid under the countable paragraphs. 
This was justified on the ground that mercerized cloth, although 
the process is no more expensive in the United States than in 
England, is fighter than unmercerized cloth, and consequently 
might be subject to a lower duty by virtue of having been made 
more valuable. This would be true, of course, for the lower 
grades, but since most of the mercerized cloth would be suffi- 
ciently high in price to prevent such a calamitous event, this 

1 The New England manufacturers stated that they wished the duties to be 
left unchanged "with the exception of some very minor points." — Tariff Hearings, 
1908-09, p. 3067. 

2 Congressional Record, June, 1909, pp. 2613, 2614, 2834, etc. 



IMPORT TRADE 247 

practically provided additional protection to those manufac- 
turing this product. 

At least one volume might be written on the history of the 
tariff on cotton manufactures, the changes, the attempts, more 
or less successful, to introduce " jokers," the debates, and all 
the devious paths which each bill followed. But for the present, 
at least, that does not seem worth while. The length to which 
the discussion has drawn itself out in the preceding pages almost 
over-emphasizes the part that the tariff has played in the prog- 
ress of the industry. The arguments employed in support of 
the duties on cotton manufactures differ in not the slightest 
detail from those commonly advanced by protectionists. The 
requests for assistance have been based mainly upon the handicap 
said to be imposed by the higher American wages. 

To consider only some of the more recent statements, in 1893 
one man who appeared at the tariff hearings said that " what- 
ever of protection is abated will merely come off the present 
wages of our employees." l Another witness, who made a 
similar statement, admitted that the labor cost had fallen, 
but since wages (earnings) had not diminished he argued that 
the tariff should not be reduced. 2 A third manufacturer stated 
that " the rates imposed are not out of proportion to the dif- 
ferences in American and foreign wages." 3 He added, " Here 
the working people have been elevated and prospered as much 
as the mill owners, while there (England) the mill owners have 
been enriched rather than the working people." 4 The Indus- 
trial Commission in 1901 likewise was told that it was necessary 
" to do something to overcome the higher cost of labor (in cotton 
manufacturing) in this country as compared with the cost of 
foreign labor." 5 

Other arguments have sometimes been added, as, for example, 
greater cost of supplies, higher interest rates, higher cost of 
transportation, and higher taxes. Here is an instance of the 
last. In England, it was said in 1897, the laborer bears the 

1 Tariff Hearings, 1893, p. 697. 3 Ibid., p. 712. 

2 Ibid., p. 702. 4 Ibid., p. 710. 
6 Industrial Commission, Report, vol. xiv, p. 476. 



248 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

taxes whereas in New England the manufacturers " pay every- 
thing in taxes and whatever the laboring man gets, he gets. 
He has no taxes to pay except the poll tax and most of them 
manage to evade that." * Almost more absurd was the state- 
ment made in 1893 that the southern states would lose half 
of their custom for Sea Island cotton, were the tariff on fine 
yarn lowered. 2 According to this reasoning the spinning of 
fine yarn in America could be displaced without an equal quan- 
tity of Sea Island cotton being spun elsewhere. Our protec- 
tionists, however, have failed to appropriate an argument sug- 
gested by a witness at the French " Enqu£te," 3 who remarked 
that after the agricultural depression in France had caused 
the import duties on grain to be raised, the Americans " faithful 
to the Monroe doctrine" retaliated with a higher duty on French 
textiles. 

But to return to the labor argument. All cotton manufac- 
turers are not unanimous in their tariff views, and even the 
advocates of protection occasionally make conflicting statements. 
For example, the superintendent of a print cloth mill in Fall 
River, who was familiar with conditions in England, informed 
me that the output per operative was so much greater in this 
country that the English could "touch us only on the finer 
grades." Later in the same day the treasurer of the same 
mill stated that he would have to close his mill, if the tariff 
were reduced, and gave as his reasons the (alleged) facts pre- 
sented during the debate on the Dingley bill by the practical 
men in Congress. Another manufacturer, after a prolonged 
denunciation of all free traders, ended by saying that quality 
for quality he could produce ginghams as cheaply as they were 
manufactured in England, and to him the only real service of 
the tariff was to prevent the dumping of English goods when 
trade was bad. 

Other instances more or less analogous can be given. In 
the report of the Secretary of State in 1881 on the Cotton 

1 Tariff Hearings, 1896-97, p. 1165. 

2 Tariff Hearings, 1893, p. 708. 

3 Enquete sur VEtat de V Industrie Textile, vol. ii, p. 293. 



IMPORT TRADE t 249 

Goods Trade of the World x it was said that " undoubtedly 
the inequalities in the wages of English and American opera- 
tives are more than equalized by the greater efficiency of the 
latter and their longer hours of labor." In 1886 the remark 
was made that the " labor per piece or per pound is as low, 
and in some localities lower, than in Lancashire." 2 Again, 
during the debate 3 on the Dingley bill in 1897, figures which 
had been privately collected were offered to prove that even 
in mule spinning the English had little advantage over the 
Americans, and the following statement by Mr. M. C. D. Bor- 
den, the president of the American Printing Company and the 
Fall River Iron Works (a cotton mill with 460,000 spindles), 
was quoted: " So far as our business is concerned it does not 
make much difference what Congress may do to any tariff 
bill. American print cloth manufacturers are now able to beat 
the world." More recently Mr. E. N. Vose has said, " I firmly 
believe that in ninety-nine instances out of one hundred the 
American manufacturer can beat his English competitors on 
prices if he sets out to do so, and that the element of labor cost 
will work out in his favor at least as often as it is against him." 4 
My own observations in American and European mills confirm 
that opinion. 

Whenever the labor argument is exploited in defense of the 
tariff or to secure an increase in duties, earnings, not labor 
costs, are compared. Logic is sacrificed for the sake of making 
the comparison appear favorable to the protectionist cause. 
Earnings, without reference to output, are not at all indicative 
of the relative costs in America and Europe. Yet the earnings, 
to say nothing of labor cost, are seldom forty or fifty per cent 
lower in England than America. 5 

Labor, moreover, is not the only item in the cost of manufac- 
turing. It constitutes only seven per cent of the total expenses 
for producing a coarse cloth weighing 3J yards to the pound, 

1 Pp. 98-99. 

2 Report on Revision of the Tariff, 1886, p. 81. 

3 Congressional Record, June 17, 1897, p. 1783. 

4 National Association of Cotton Manufacturers, Transactions, no. 80, p. 214. 
6 See infra, pp. 296-305. 



250 , THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

eleven per cent for a 6 yards-to-the-pound cloth, twenty per 
cent for a heavy gingham, thirty-eight per cent for a fine gingham, 
and forty-five per cent for a very fine fancy cloth, according to 
information obtained from manufacturers themselves. Therefore 
the total expenditure for labor would in very few cases equal 
the import duty imposed on the cloth. For the coarser grades 
the import duty far exceeds the total labor cost, and for the 
finer grades is at least equal to that cost. In other words, the 
duty covers not merely the (assumed) difference in expenses 
for labor, but those expenses in their entirety. 1 

Raw cotton is a considerable item in the cost of manufactur- 
ing cotton cloth. For a very fine fabric, woven with colored 
yarn, the cotton may constitute but thirty-five per cent of 
the total costs, but for a coarse plain cloth eighty to eighty-five 
per cent of the expense is for raw cotton. For the bulk of the 
cotton cloth produced in America the proportion of the total 
charges which is made up by raw cotton would be from sixty 
to eighty-five per cent. Nevertheless, raw cotton costs no more 
in New England than it does in England, France, and Germany. 

While this labor cost " justification, " therefore, fails to justify, 
it has been a powerful argument. Not only has it appealed 
to the self-interest of the operatives themselves, but as part 
of the whole protectionist platform has been accepted by 
those employed in other industries. Without doubt most of 
the manufacturers do take an interest in the welfare of their 
employees, yet one may well inquire who the American work- 
man is for whom they so solicitously defend the tariff ? Is he 
the English immigrant with his troublesome labor unions ? 
Or the Irishman ? Or the French Canadian ? Or the Slav, the 
Pole, the Greek, the Italian, or the Syrian not able to speak 
English ? Moreover, when the question of more stringent 
regulation of the conditions of labor, better enforcement of 
existing laws, or an increase in wages arises, how often does the 
ardent protectionist remember his former pleadings for a meas- 

1 This was written several months before the Tariff Board's Report on Cotton 
Manufactures was published. The conclusions here stated, however, are entirely 
substantiated by that report. 



IMPORT TRADE 25 1 

ure which was supposed to safeguard the standard of living of 
the workers ? And how would he welcome a further restriction 
upon immigration, the surest means of promoting the progress 
of his employees ? It is far more comfortable to shift onto the 
tariff the responsibility for their welfare. 

In giving all the credit for the progress of the industry to 
the tariff the American cotton manufacturers are too modest. 
Their own inventions and their organizing and administrative 
ability have played a far more important part. Internal com- 
petition, fortunately, has forced them to put forth these efforts, 
and the advance of the industry in the South came as a blessing, 
however unwelcome, to the New England manufacturers, 
since it compelled them to adopt more economical methods and 
to diversify their product. Thus the possibly benumbing 
effects of protection were averted. Finally, although it may 
enable the fine cloth manufacturers to obtain somewhat higher 
prices, the protective tariff has been for years and is now, for 
the majority of American cotton manufacturers, an empty 
and imaginary guardian. The prices of the grades of cloth 
produced in the United States in the largest quantities are prac- 
tically the same as those obtaining in England. 1 Yet if the tariff 
does not raise the prices how can it possibly yield any benefit ? 

If the manufacturers were willing to give up some of this 
useless " protection " and seek a reduction in the duties on their 
supplies, they would strengthen their competitive position. 2 

1 On August 17, 19 10, a Burnley manufacturer stated to me that his lowest 
quotation on 64 x 64, 28-inch print cloth at that time was 4 cents per yard. The 
American quotation on the same day was 3! cents, according to Shepperson's 
Cotton Facts, ed. 1910, p. 27. A more extensive comparison of English and 
American prices has not been undertaken because of the difficulty of ascertaining 
the relative quality of the cloth. See my summary of the Tariff Board's report 
in the American Economic Review, Sept. 191 2. 

2 Mr. Shepperson in his Cotton Facts, ed. 1906, p. iv, expresses the same 
opinion. " Our cotton mills," he writes, " are so handicapped by the high tariff 
duties on machinery, and also on practically everything which enters into the cost 
of manufacturing, that except for the plainest descriptions of goods they cannot 
compete with European manufacturers, even for the trade of countries so near us 
as Mexico, the West Indies, and South America. The permanent prosperity of 
our cotton mills demands the lowering of the tariff rates on everything necessary 
for their equipment and operation." 



252 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Machinery, which is protected by a forty-five per cent duty, 
costs more in America. Part of this duty on machinery in 
turn goes to the steel manufacturers. The duties on dye-stuffs 
and other minor requisites are also handicaps to the American 
cotton manufacturer in his competition for a foreign market. 

Eventually these facts will be recognized by our cotton manu- 
facturers. They will be better appreciated when the manufac- 
turers begin earnestly to seek an export market. Just as the 
first effective instigation of the free trade movement in Eng- 
land came from the manufacturers themselves, we may expect 
a downward revision of the American tariff when the desire 
of our manufacturers for a larger export trade becomes stronger. 



CHAPTER XIV 

IMPORT TRADE (CONTINUED) 

Knit Goods 

The value of knit goods imported into the United States, as 
was shown by the table previously given, 1 has not changed 
greatly since the Civil War. This has been a period of very 
rapid expansion of the industry within the country. From a 
household industry it has become a factory industry, employing 
highly specialized machinery for the production of large quantities 
of hosiery and underwear. While the value of the output has 
jumped from seven million dollars to two hundred million dol- 
lars, the imports have remained nearly stationary. Whereas we 
formerly secured half as many goods abroad as were manufac- 
tured in our own knitting mills, our domestic production is now 
twenty times as great as the imports. 

Germany, for many years the chief source of supply, has 
gradually assumed a larger and larger proportion of the total 
trade until at the present time about eighty-seven per cent of 
our imports of knit goods come from that country. 

Imports of Cotton Knit Goods 2 

{Average annual value) 

From From 

Germany Great Britain All Other Total 

1873-83 $4,116,000 $1,514,000 $1,202,000 $6,832,000 

1884-90 5,331,000 907,000 533,000 6,771,000 

1891-94 5,045,000 381,000 406,000 5,831,000. 

1895-97 5,490,000 209,000 409,000 6,108,000 

1898-1905 .... 4,623,000 128,000 532,000 5,283,000 

Germany has largely ousted Great Britain and the other Euro- 
pean knit-goods manufacturing countries from their trade with 

1 See ante, p. 234. 

2 U. S. Commerce and Navigation Reports. 

253 



254 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

the United States. Great Britain's export trade in knit goods 
has declined in other directions also, for the total fell off from an 
average of £2,876,000 in 1875-79, and £1,112,000 in 1880-84, 
to £436,000 in 1900-04. The Saxon manufacturers, on the con- 
trary, utilizing the machinery invented in England, have shown 
special aptitude in this branch of the textile industry, and the 
United States is their best market. 

The history of the tariff on cotton knit goods has much resem- 
blance to the history of the tariff on other cotton fabrics, and 
has many of the same ear-marks; but starting from a slightly 
lower level it has soared upward more swiftly. The act of 
186 1 increased the ad valorem duty from fifteen to twenty-five 
per cent, the act of 1862 to thirty per cent, and that of 1864 
to thirty-five per cent. The industry, as we have seen, was 
already established, but it was not strong enough to secure 
especial favors, nor was it as timid as in later years when the 
(declared) fear of foreign competition increased in direct pro- 
portion to the size of the industry. 

This duty was, of course, subject to the horizontal reduction 
of 1872 and the restoration of 1875. Until this period the duty 
on cotton knit goods had been as much for revenue as for pro- 
tection, and what protection was afforded could be largely 
justified on the grounds of an infant industry. In 1883 the 
infant began to look out for itself, however, and at the insti- 
gation of the Philadelphia Association of Hosiery and Knit- 
Goods Manufacturers, 1 the duty on fashioned hosiery was in- 
creased to forty per cent. The duty on cut hosiery, which con- 
stituted only one-fifth of the imports, was left at the former 
rate. This change applied to underwear as well as to hosiery, 
but did not have the same significance, since over four-fifths 
of the underwear was entered at the thirty-five per cent rate. 

The period from 1883 to 1890, with its improvements in tech- 
nique, was a happy one for the knitting business. The result 
was that by 1890 the industry had assumed large proportions. 
None the less, the previous protection was no longer sufficient, 
at least it was deemed inadequate by the f ramers of the McKinley 

1 Report of Tariff Commission, 1882, vol. ii, p. 2271. 



IMPORT TRADE 255 

Act. By that act the duty on cut goods and all knit goods 
not otherwise provided for was not disturbed. But in place 
of the simple ad valorem tax of forty per cent on fashioned 
goods, a system of compound specific and ad valorem duties 
was devised and hosiery divided into four classes. The first 
of these classes included all fashioned hose and half-hose valued 
at not more than 60 cents per dozen pairs, and the duty was 
equivalent to fifty-four per cent ad valorem during the years 
that it was in force. The importations in this lowest class were 
by no means negligible, but they were far less than those in the 
second group, valued from 60 cents to $2 per dozen pairs. Three- 
fourths of the total imports of hosiery fell into this class, on 
which the duty was equivalent to seventy-two per cent. 

A similar scheme was applied to the schedule for underwear, 
which was divided into five classes, and with the same result. 
Nearly sixty per cent of the imports were of the two grades, 
valued from $1.50 to $3.00, and from $3.00 to $5.00 per dozen 
pairs, on the former of which the duty proved to be equivalent 
to seventy-four per cent, and on the latter seventy-three per cent. 
The duties on the other classes of hosiery and underwear were 
somewhat lower. 

The Wilson Act did away with the complex arrangement of the 
schedule for knit goods, and imposed an ad valorem duty of 
fifty per cent on all fashioned goods, both hosiery and under- 
wear, and of thirty per cent on all other knit goods. The House 
bill had placed the duty on the former class at forty-five per 
cent, but the Senate pushed it up to fifty per cent, where it 
remained. Thus they did not go back even to the rates which 
prevailed prior to 1890. The use of cut goods had been declin- 
ing, so that practically all of the imports paid fifty per cent. 
There was some justification, however, for not further reducing 
the duties, when we consider the precarious business conditions 
of that period and the injury that might have been inflicted 
upon those who had embarked their capital under the McKinley 
Act. 

The law which was passed in 1897, with the avowed object of 
restoring the duties of the McKinley Act, in the case of the 



256 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

knit goods re-introduced the system of classes according to value, 
with compound specific and ad valorem duties. But the formulae 
of these compounds were new. The division into classes was 
also somewhat different. The first class included all hosiery 
valued at not more than $1, instead of not over 60 cents per 
dozen pairs, and the Dingley duty on this class was higher than 
that of the McKinley Act, being equivalent to sixty-eight per 
cent. On the classes of hosiery worth more than $1 the duties 
were lower than in 1890 and averaged about sixty per cent. 
Approximately three-fifths of the quantity of hosiery imported 
after this act went into force, however, was valued at less than 
a dollar per dozen pairs, and hence was hit hardest by the new 
tariff. 

Though the Dingley law in general arranged knit underwear 
in just the same classes as had the McKinley Act, it added a 
new class by dividing all goods valued at more than $7 per dozen 
into two classes, (1) valued from $7 to $15, and (2) over $15. 
The compound specific and ad valorem duty on the lower of 
these two classes was equivalent to sixty-one per cent while 
on the higher the simple ad valorem was only fifty per cent. 
The duties on every class except the highest were compound 
and proved to be equivalent to over sixty per cent ad valorem 
in each case, an advance over the rates of 1894, but, with a 
single exception, a reduction from those of 1890. The exception 
was the duty on underwear valued at less than $1.50 per dozen 
pairs, which had paid only thirty-five per cent in 1890, and 
which now had to pay the equivalent of sixty-one per cent. 
Yet it should be said that the importations in this class were 
not large. Underwear, unlike hosiery, felt the foreign competi- 
tion more severely in the higher priced grades. 

The most recent tariff act (1909) purported to make a down- 
ward revision of the tariff. We have already seen how the 
revision of the cloth schedule raised the rates, on the pretext 
of restoring the duties which it had been intended to collect 
under the previous act. Those increases were not unimportant, 
but the additions made to the duties on hosiery were even 
more considerable. 



IMPORT TRADE 2$*J 

On class one, valued at not over $i per dozen pairs, the House 
proposed to increase the Dingley duty from 50 cents per dozen 
pairs plus fifteen per cent ad valorem to 70 cents plus fifteen 
per cent; on class two, valued from $1.00 to $1.50, from 60 
cents plus fifteen per cent to 85 cents plus fifteen per cent; 
on class three, valued from $1.50 to $2.00, from 70 cents plus 
fifteen per cent to 90 cents plus fifteen per cent; and on class 
four, valued from $2.00 to $3.00, from $1.20 plus fifteen per cent 
to $1.50 plus fifteen per cent. On the highest two classes the 
duties were not disturbed by the House bill. 

When the Payne bill was reported from the Finance Committee 
of the Senate, the Dingley rates on hosiery were restored, since 
the knit-goods manufacturers probably .did not have as powerful 
friends at court in the Senate as in the House, and also because 
there had arisen a storm of protest against the tactics which 
were being pursued in revising the bill, especially against such 
obvious increases in protection as in the case of the hosiery 
duties. In this form the bill went to the conference committee. 

The duties on hosiery were among those most hotly con- 
tested in the conference committee, owing to the criticism 
which had been aroused and the pressure brought to bear from 
both sides. The higher duties, in the end, prevailed, with the 
exception of that on the third class where the specific part was 
reduced from $1.00 to 90 cents, and the fourth class where 
the Dingley duty was retained. The exact reasons why the Senate 
yielded to the House will very likely never be known. Perhaps 
the plaintive petitions of the operatives who went to Washing- 
ton excited the sympathy of the legislators, or at least gave 
them an excuse. On the other hand, it is alleged that the 
speaker of the House was especially interested in these duties, 
since he had promised to pay a political debt by granting such 
an increase. His influence and the pretext offered by the peti- 
tions may well have been sufficient to turn the tide and secure 
the assent of the Senators, who were only lukewarm advocates 
of the lower rates. 

By this law, therefore, the duties on the lowest class of hosiery 
which had formerly been equivalent to sixty-eight per cent 



258 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

were made equivalent to at least eighty-five per cent, and this 
is the class in which there are the largest imports. On the 
second class the ad valorem equivalent became at least seventy- 
one per cent as compared with sixty per cent; and on the third 
at least sixty per cent as compared with fifty-two per cent 
actually collected in the preceding years. For all goods in each 
class valued at less than the maximum the equivalent will be 
higher than the minimum rate here stated and therefore the 
average will show a greater increase. 

The object of these changes (in 1909) was to stimulate the 
manufacture in this country of full-fashioned goods, 1 now largely 
imported from Germany. This transfer is very difficult to ac- 
complish for the reason that the greater part of the stockings 
made in the United States are knit upon circular automatic ma- 
chines, and these are far better adapted to American industrial 
conditions than are the Cotton frames on which full-fashioned 
goods are produced. If the cheap German hose are shut out, 
the principal effect will probably be the stimulation of a further 
development of the production of seamless stockings. It is the 
domestic producer of seamless goods against whom the would-be 
manufacturer of full-fashioned hosiery must primarily contend, 
and against him no tariff barrier can be raised. 

The duties on underwear remain where they were placed in 
1897, being equivalent to over sixty per cent for all goods not 
exceeding seven dollars per dozen in value and from fifty to 
sixty per cent on those above that margin. These duties, 
however, are of less significance than those on stockings, since 
the imports are much less, between five and six hundred thous- 
and dollars worth per year. The American, manufacturing 
on a large scale with the circular knitting machine and the 
highly specialized making-up machinery, can produce shirts 
and drawers about as cheaply as they are manufactured by 
the foreigner. At any rate the difference is not sixty per cent. 

The history of the tariff on knit goods is but another illus- 
tration of the way in which our tariff was raised after the close 

1 The requests came from manufacturers of full-fashioned goods. — Tariff Hear- 
ings, 1908-09, pp. 4746, 4748. 



IMPORT TRADE 2S9 

of the Civil War. The changes have been demanded for the 
same reasons that alterations in the duties on other products 
have been sought. Differences in labor cost have been asserted 
as a justification of the higher rates. Before the Tariff Com- 
mission in 1882 a knit-goods manufacturer stated that " if the 
duties are decreased, the American manufacturer must remain 
out of the market until he has starved his employees into accept- 
ing wages on the European basis, which is, at best, English 
one-half and German one-third the American, while the consumer 
will continue to pay about the same price for his goods as now." l 
Curious logic, to say nothing of the disregard of the greater 
extent to which labor saving machinery was even then used in 
the United States. 

The hearings in 1893 were productive of many similar remarks 
upon the lower labor cost in Europe. One manufacturer re- 
quested a " fair and square protective tariff for our home indus- 
tries so that the manufacturers here would be protected against 
the pauper labor of Europe." 2 Another said: "The whole 
question is one of labor as between our people who have, by 
their brains and perseverance, got the standard of wages where 
they can live comfortably and in great contrast to the half- 
starved laboring class of foreign countries." 3 This was after 
the most radical improvements in machinery had become avail- 
able and the employment of immigrant labor had become com- 
mon. The statements were in several instances supported by 
figures (not statistics) by means of which the wages in Europe 
and America were compared. As usual, however, it was the 
earnings which were used as the index to the divergence in 
labor cost, 4 irrespective of the differences in the machinery. 

The economy of superior organization was disregarded by a 
witness in 1897, in comparing conditions in Germany and this 
country. He said: " Wages are as one to four. Besides that, 
they have these small machines spread all over the country 

1 Report of the Tariff Commission, 1882, p. 2273. 

2 Tariff Hearings, 1893, p. 737. 

3 Ibid., p. 767. 

4 Ibid., pp. 755, 762; Ibid., 1908-09, p. 4749. 



260 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

and can work night and day, if they wish to, and they work 
for a mere pittance." 1 As at previous hearings, conclusions 
were brought forth concerning the greater cost of manufac- 
turing knit goods in this country, which were based on compari- 
sons of earnings. 2 

These statements in regard to higher earnings of the opera- 
tives in this country undoubtedly have some truth in them, 
although they are to be taken with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, 
as has been pointed out, the circular automatic machines so 
generally used in this country, the larger scale of production, 
and the more economical factory organization counteract the 
disadvantage of a higher wage level. Even if it be true (as it 
very likely is) that there is a somewhat greater labor cost here, 
the difference is by no means as great as the difference in earn- 
ings, and even from a protectionist standpoint does not justify 
the duties now imposed. 

Even if the duties at the present time are unduly protective, 
may it not be that the growth of the industry has been due to 
protection ? Is not this an illustration of an infant industry ? 
Perhaps. But no one can be absolutely sure of the extent to 
which the tariff has actually spurred on the industry. The 
improvements in technique, which began in the 'fifties under 
a low tariff, were possibly accentuated by the higher duties of 
the war period, but had already been brought to a high standard 
by 1890. On the basis of these inventions the industry has 
expanded rapidly during the last twenty years, and they have 
probably had far more influence than the high duties of 1890, 
1894, and 1897. Without the inventions the tariff would have 
had little effect. With them, but without the tariff, the growth 
would very likely have been nearly as rapid. In fact, one might 
maintain that the higher duties have been the result of the 
growth of the industry rather than the cause; the increased 
size and stronger interests have had greater influence when 
the time for tariff revision came around. 

1 Tariff Hearings, 1896-97, p. 1180. 

2 Ibid., pp. 1 183, 1 188. 



IMPORT TRADE 261 

The post hoc propter hoc reasoners who give the credit to the 
tariff rather than to inventive and organizing ability must 
explain why the tariff on woolen knit goods has not been as 
effective as that on the fabrics made of cotton. From 1883 
to 1890 the ad valorem equivalents of the duties on woolen 
knit goods were from sixty- two to seventy- three per cent; 
1890 to 1894, from eighty to three hundred and twenty-four 
per cent; 1894 to 1897, from thirty-five to fifty per cent; and 
1897 to 1909, over ninety per cent. Yet the output of these 
goods has steadily declined in the United States. The truth 
of the matter seems to be that woolen yarn cannot be knit as 
cheaply as cotton yarn, and the woolen branch of the industry 
did not benefit as greatly from the inventions. The cheaper 
cotton hosiery and underwear usurped part of the share of the 
market previously held by woolen, and the tariff was powerless 
to prevent it. 

But discussion as to the effects of the tariff on knit goods, 
or its justification, is of slight avail. The imports have not 
greatly declined with the higher duties, yet we cannot say 
assuredly that they would not have have increased without them. 
The machinery has been improved, and the improvements may 
or may not have been due to the protective tariff. Although 
the manufacturers are likely to demand still higher duties, 
perhaps even the prohibition of the importing of competitive 
products, none the less the industry is now established on 
such a firm basis that it seems nearly to have passed the stage 
of infancy. 



CHAPTER XV 

DIVIDENDS AND PRICES 

Two ways in which the results of the progress in the American 
cotton manufacturing industry can be judged are (i) the divi- 
dends paid by the mill corporations and (2) the changes in the 
prices of the products. The former indicate the attractiveness 
of this industry as a field for investment, and the latter show 
the advantages which have come to the purchasers of cotton 
goods. Both deserve attention in judging the effects of the 
tariff. 

When we undertake to determine the profitableness of Ameri- 
can cotton mills we are beset with difficulties in obtaining 
information on which to base any conclusions. The stock of 
a number of mills is closely held and only meagre reports given 
out. And the mills, especially those in New England, are 
more or less undercapitalized. On this point the Census of 
1900 concludes that " there must be an excess of at least twenty- 
five per cent of assets over the nominal value of the share capi- 
tal," x a very conservative estimate. The degree of under- 
capitalization varies and few of the officials are willing to state 
its extent in particular instances. One treasurer has informed 
me that his plant is capitalized at $200,000, but insured for 
$750,000, and this insurance valuation does not include the 
value of the land nor the quick assets. Hence in this case the 
book value is only one-fifth of the actual value of the plant. 

We have a test of the extent of undercapitalization in a com- 
parison of the book value per spindle with the cost of construc- 
tion per spindle at the present time. The actual cost of building 
a cotton mill in the United States under present conditions is 
from $15 to $20 per spindle. 2 It varies from this amount upward 

1 12th U. S. Census, vol. ix, p. 31. 

2 Ibid., vol. vii, p. cccxxvi. The cost stated there is $15 per spindle, but a 
manufacturer informs me that it is often $20 per spindle. 

262 



DIVIDENDS AND PRICES 263 

according to the equipment. In addition to the cost of con- 
struction a certain amount of ready cash is necessary for financing 
the operations of the mill. A considerable sum is tied up in 
raw material and stock in process, in finished goods in the store- 
house and in goods delivered but not paid for. The amount 
of quick capital necessary varies according to the grade of 
product. A few mills could get along with only $3 or $4 per 
spindle, while others need at least $15. The average sum per 
spindle which is needed to construct and finance a cotton mill 
at the present time is not far from $30. 

Let us see how this compares with the book value of some of 
the New England mills, selected at random. The book value 
per spindle of the Androscoggin is $13.93; American Linen, 
$6.65; Bates, $14.61; Cornell, $3.69; Granite, $5.36; Great 
Falls, $11.36; King Philip, $4.65; Laurel Lake, $5.84; Naum- 
keag, $14.46; Pepperell, $12.78; Pocasset, $8.09; Troy, $6.31. 
These are typical examples of mills in first class condition which 
could be replaced only at a cost from two to five times as great 
as their present capitalization. Moreover some of them own 
valuable trade marks, an asset which might well be included in 
capitalization. 

This undercapitalization makes the dividends on the nominal 
capital seem low, since they are paid, in reality, on an invest- 
ment larger by the amount of earnings which have been turned 
into improvements. But the improvements have increased 
the value of the property, and are reflected in the high market 
value of the shares. The apparently low return on the total 
investment is counterbalanced, since if the earnings had been 
paid out in the form of dividends and then re-invested, the 
average rate of dividend would have been higher. Numerous 
mills have also accumulated a big surplus. 

I have attempted to estimate the average rate of dividends 
paid by New England cotton mills during the twenty years 
from 1889 to 1908. The period embraces all sorts of commer- 
cial weather, and is also the time when the competition from 
the newly established mills in the South was most severely felt. 
Hence the period itself is a fair one in which to judge the returns 



264 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

on capital invested in the New England mills. It is not possible 
to ascertain the amount of dividends paid by several large and 
profitable concerns, among them the Fall River Iron Works, 
the Durfee Mills, the Knights' mills, and a few others whose 
stock is so closely held that no information as to earnings or 
dividends is published. Nevertheless the number of mills 
included is large enough to be fairly representative, and the 
result is too low rather than too high. 

The method adopted for making this estimate, which includes 
returns for seventy-six mills, 1 was as follows. The total capi- 
talization of each mill was multiplied by the number of years 
it was in force, — by twenty if unchanged throughout the 
period, by ten when changed at the end of ten years and in that 
case the new capitalization by ten, and so on. This gave the 
gross amount of capital on which dividends were paid. The 
gross dividends were the sum of all dividends paid. Then by 
dividing the gross dividends by the gross capitalization the 
average rate was determined. Thus due weight was given to 
the heavier capitalization of the large concerns, and although 
open to the objections that may be raised against any average, 
it seems to be a fair index to the financial prosperity of the 
New England cotton mills since 1889. The result obtained 
was seven and seven-tenths per cent. 2 

The estimate which I have just made does not include the 
amount spent in improving the plants, or in accumulating a 
surplus. 3 It is not an estimate of earnings. The only additional 
index which we have to the probable earnings of those mills is 
the degree of undercapitalization and the amount of surplus 
which they have. Capitalization has already been discussed. 
The surplus, like everything else, varies widely. The Amoskeag 
Manufacturing Company with a capitalization of $5,760,000 

1 See table in appendix. The data for this compilation was obtained from the 
annual tables of Stock Fluctuations issued by J. C. Martin, and the reports of 
Sanford & Kelly of New Bedford, and E. J. Cole, Fall River. 

2 It has been found impossible to obtain data on which to make a similar esti- 
mate for the southern mills. 

3 Large amounts are often written off for depreciation and it is possible that 
high salaries may sometimes take the place of dividends. 



DIVIDENDS AND PRICES 265 

had a surplus of $3,720,691 in 1907. In the same year the Bates 
Mills had a surplus of $1,376,361, with a capitalization of 
$1,000,000; the Pacific Mills with a capitalization of $3,000,000, 
a surplus of $6,332,854. These are among the highest surpluses. 
From these instances, where the surplus even exceeds the capital- 
ization, we find all gradations, down to those mills which are in 
debt. 

Several mills (as may be seen by examining the table in 
the appendix) have paid very high dividends and at the same 
time accumulated a surplus while a few have paid very low 
dividends and one or two none at all during the last twenty 
years. The reasons for the poor showing of the latter and for 
the remarkable success of the former are doubtless to be found 
in each case in the degree of efficiency with which they have 
been organized and managed. 

The prices of cotton manufactures have been acted upon by 
both external and internal forces. Of the former the most 
important have been the monetary conditions, such as those 
of ,the period of inflation at the time of the second war with 
England and during the Greenback era, or, finally, the great 
augmentation of the world's supply of gold within the last 
twenty years. These have disturbed all prices. Within a 
narrower sphere there are the influences which have assisted 
to increase the supply of raw material, the more important 
being the opening up of new lands, the building of railroads, 
and improvements in methods of cultivation. The downward 
tendency thus stimulated has been subjected to such temporary 
checks as bad weather and the war of 1 861-1865, and has been 
constantly retarded by the steady expansion of the cotton 
manufacturing industry. On the other side, conditions in 
the cloth market have left their impression, prices falling in 
times of depression and rising to a high point during prosperity, 
as happened at the climax of 1907. The increase in the popula- 
tion of the country and changes in taste, likewise, have had a 
bearing upon the course of prices. 

In addition to these factors, there has been the introduction 
of economies in manufacturing and merchandizing, the history 



266 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

of which has been outlined in the foregoing chapters. These 
economies have constantly acted as a weight upon prices, and 
have tended to narrow the margin between the cost of the raw 
material and the selling price of the goods. The success in this 
direction, moreover, and the elaboration and diversification of 
the product have resulted in an invasion into the fields of the 
other textile industries. All textile products are, to a certain 
extent, competitive, and the cheaper cotton goods have been 
substituted for some of the fabrics made of wool, silk, and 
flax. 

The decline in the price of cotton cloth was especially rapid 
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. The price 
of ordinary sheeting, for example, fell from 40 cents a yard in 
1815 to 22 cents in 1822, 8J cents in 1829, and 7 cents in 1850. 1 
At the same time the price of raw cotton fell from 24 cents per 
pound in 1800 to 21 cents in 18 15, 14.32 cents in 1822, and 
9.88 cents in 1829, but had risen in 1850 to 12.34 cents. 2 Thus 
the price of sheeting declined more rapidly than the price of 
raw cotton during the period in which the power loom was 
introduced and various other labor saving devices applied. 

From 1 86 1 to 1879 the severe affliction of the cotton industry 
by the war and the disturbance of price levels by inflation render 
it impossible to make satisfactory comparisons of price changes 
within that period. But the result of any changes will be shown 
by comparing i860 and 1880, at the beginning and the end of 
the Greenback period. Middling upland cotton averaged 
11 cents per pound in New York in i860, 3 and 11. 51 cents in 
1880. Notwithstanding the slightly higher cost of cotton 
the price of cloth was lower at the latter date : — standard sheet- 
ing selling for 8.51 cents per yard in 1880 as compared with 
8.73 cents in i860, standard drilling at 8.51 cents and 8.92 cents, 
bleached shirtings at 12.74 cents and 15.50 cents, standard 
prints at 7.41 cents and 9.50 cents, and regular (64 x 64) print 

1 S. Batchelder, Early Progress of Cotton Manufacture, p. 56. 

2 M. B. Hammond, Cotton Industry, appendix. 

3 The following price quotations are from the U. S. Statistical Abstract. 



DIVIDENDS AND PRICES 267 

cloths at 4.51 cents and 5.44 cents respectively at the two 
dates. 

A downward tendency in the prices of cotton goods l was 
apparent from 1880 to 1898, but at the latter date the forces 
which have brought about the recent rise in prices began to 
make themselves felt. Sheetings fell gradually, except for a 
slight reaction in 1887-88, to 4.20 cents per yard in 1898, rising 
again to 7.62 cents in 1907, and going back somewhat the year 
after the panic to 6.75 cents in 1908. Drillings, similarly, 
were sold for 4.10 cents in 1898, 7.62 cents in 1907, and 7.15 
cents in 1908. Bleached shirtings, in which the proportional 
cost for labor is greater than in the other goods quoted, were 
riot affected to the same extent, reaching 8 cents in 1898, 13 
cents in 1907, and 11.54 cents in 1908. Regular print cloths 
fluctuated more in price than the goods just mentioned, but 
showed the same tendency; they were at their lowest level, 
2.06 cents, in 1898, rose to 4.62 cents in 1907, and receded to 
3.50 cents in 1908. Standard prints averaged 3.96 cents in 
1898, 6 cents in 1907, and 5.37 cents in 1908. They all 
followed more or less closely the changes in the price of raw 
cotton. 

The correspondence between the fluctuations in the average 
price of cloth and of raw cotton is apparent from the fact that 
the latter also reached the lowest mark in 1898, at 5.94 cents 
per pound, and stood at 12. 1 cents in 1907 and 10.62 cents in 
1908. 

As the prices of both raw cotton and cotton cloth have changed 
at the same time, it is only by considering the relative change 
in each that an estimate of the effects of the economies can be 
made. The fairest way ^o do this, perhaps, will be by taking 
for comparison a year in which the price of cotton was about 
the same as in i860. The average price of middling cotton 
was 11 cents per pound in i860 and 11. 18 cents in 1903, hence 
they may safely be compared. In the two years the prices 
of the various standard goods were as follows : — sheetings, 

1 Tables of prices and a chart are given in the appendix. 



268 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

8.51 cents and 6.25 cents; drillings, 8.51 cents and 6.37 cents; 
bleached shirtings, 12.74 cents and 10.75 cents; standard prints, 
9.50 and 5 cents; regular print cloths, 5.44 cents and 3.1 1 cents 
respectively. This was a very considerable reduction in the 
prices of cloth; yet raw cotton cost slightly more in the later 
year. 

Take another set of years, — 1880 and 1906. In the former 
year the average price of middling cotton was 11. 51 cents per 
pound, in the latter 11.50 cents per pound. Sheetings brought 
an average price in New York in the later year of 7.25 cents as 
compared with 8.51 in 1880; drillings 7.37 cents and 8.51 cents 
at the two dates; bleached shirtings 10.93 cents and 12.74 
cents; regular print cloths, 3.63 cents and 4.51 cents; and 
standard prints 5.12 cents in 1906 as compared with 7.41 cents 
in 1880. These comparisons show the results of the more 
economical methods of manufacturing and selling. 1 

The prices of cotton goods have declined not only in the 
United States but in all parts of the world. This decline, 
which has accompanied the expansion of the cotton manufactur- 
ing industry and its constantly increasing volume of output, 
has favored cotton fabrics in the competition with the other 
textiles. Articles made of cotton are no longer luxuries, as they 
were when imported from India in earlier centuries, but have 
come to be counted amongst the necessities of life. The prog- 
ress of the cotton manufacturing industry has been in contrast 
with that of the woolen, silk, and linen industries. 

The wool manufacturing industry has advanced, but has not 
kept pace with the cotton industry. Demands which were 
formerly filled by cloth made of wool have partially shifted to 
cotton goods. Flannels and woolen knit goods have been 
especially oppressed by the competition of cotton. And where 
there has not been a substitution of pure cotton fabrics for 
pure woolen or worsted cloth, a mixture has frequently taken 
place. Worsted manufacturers often utilize cotton yarn for 
the warp in making dress goods. Other cloth, of the finest 

1 They also indicate how little the tariff has influenced the development of the 
industry. 



DIVIDENDS AND PRICES 269 

as well as the coarsest grades, dress goods as well as shoddy, 
is manufactured from yarn which contains a mixture of the two 
fibres. The manufacture of mixed and imitation goods has 
reached its highest development in Germany, — the fine dress 
goods and shoddy from Saxony and the " buckskins " of M. 
Gladbach standing at the head. In the United States the 
quantity of raw cotton used in wool manufacturing estab- 
lishments 1 (not including knit goods) was 27,869,000 pounds 
in 1880, 42,996,000 pounds in 1890, and 43,414,000 pounds in 
1900. In addition these mills purchased in 1900, 55,217,000 
pounds of cotton yarn spun from 65,000,000 pounds of cotton, 
and in 1890, 51,376,000 pounds of yarn made from 60,000,000 
pounds of cotton. In 1900, therefore, the total quantity of 
raw cotton consumed by the wool manufacturing industry in 
the United States was over 108,000,000 pounds, or more than 
one-fourth of the quantity of raw wool (394,369,000 pounds) 
used in the same year. 

Cotton has had an advantage over wool in that the raw 
material can be obtained more cheaply. Moreover the natural 
difference in price has been enhanced 2 in the United States 
by import duties on raw wool. These duties have had an addi- 
tionally retarding effect by checking the importation of cer- 
tain grades of wool that could be advantageously utilized in 
blending. 

The cost of manufacturing cotton is also less. Cotton fibres 
are more uniform than wool fibres, and not as curly; hence 
they are more easily manufactured. It was chiefly for this 
reason that the inventions of textile machinery were first applied 
in the cotton industry and the advantages of the factory system 
and large scale production earlier realized. The production 
of cotton goods was standardized sooner, and even today cotton 
fabrics are less affected by the vagaries of fashion than are 
woolens and worsteds. 

1 1 2th V. S. Census, vol. ix, p. 95. 

2 The status of wool production in America is set forth by C. W. Wright, Wool- 
Growing and the Tariff. 



270 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The silk industry 1 has been handicapped by conditions similar 
to those which have caused the relatively slower development 
of the wool manufacturing industry. Not only is the growing 
of silk costly, but its manufacture is more laborious because 
of the delicacy of the tender fibres and the state in which they 
are obtained. That the silk industry has not remained still 
further in the rear has been due in part to the invention of the 
Lister comb which made possible the preparation of waste silk 
for spinning. By that means the silk manufacturers were 
relieved from entire dependence upon thrown silk. Within 
the last twenty-five years, moreover, numerous technical inven- 
tions, many of them originating in the United States, have 
induced an expansion of the factory system. Yet even at the 
present time a large number of hand looms are at work in the 
Lyons, Crefeld, and Basel districts under the putting out system 
for the production of cloth for which fragile threads are used 
or which is woven in a complex design. 

Standardization has been difficult in the silk industry, since 
silks belong more or less to the class of luxuries, and their market 
is not only more dependent upon general business prosperity 
but the demand to which they cater requires greater novelty in 
design. This is especially true for pure silk goods, since the 
ordinary grades have encountered the competition of cloth made 
of cotton and of artificial silk. 

Cotton manufacturers have steadily introduced finer and 
finer fabrics, and since the mercerizing process was perfected 
have been able to give their cloth a silk-like appearance. Recently 
the manufacture of artifical silk in France and Germany has 
added another competitor. Silk manufacturers, finally, have 
followed the practice of the wool manufacturers in substituting 
cotton. The American silk manufacturers in 1905 used 17,- 
276,690 pounds of silk materials (yarn) and 9,018,295 pounds 
of cotton yarns. 2 In other countries, similarly, cotton has 

1 A recent work on the American silk industry is by F. R. Mason, The American 
Silk Industry and the Tariff. 

2 U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 74, p. 177. 



DIVIDENDS AND PRICES 27 1 

invaded the silk mill, and thus competes from within as well 
as without. 

Linen is the other textile fabric that has had to struggle 
against the product of the rising cotton industry. Linen warps 
were used in the looms of the first English cotton manufacturers, 
but Arkwright's water frame made them unnecessary, and 
soon cotton cloth began to take the place of linen. In every 
country except Ireland the linen industry has actually declined, 
and the Irish industry has for some time been stationary. 1 The 
substitution of steamships for sailing ships caused a falling off 
in the demand for linen sails, but that only partially accounts 
for the relatively backward development of the industry. The 
chief factor has been the competition of cotton. 

The raw material for the linen industry, as for the woolen and 
silk industries, has been dearer than cotton. Its cultivation 
is more costly and the first stages of treatment disagreeable and 
expensive. Again, the machinery cannot be operated at as 
high a rate of speed in a linen mill as in a cotton factory, and it 
was not till about 1850 that it became possible to use the power 
loom for weaving linen. On the Continent of Europe, as for 
example in Silesia and Saxony, cotton spinning and weaving 
were introduced in localities where linen was manufactured 
and gradually took possession of the field, although the linen 
industry has lingered along and is even combined with the 
cotton industry today in a few mills. Finally, the demand 
for linen goods has suffered since the cotton manufacturers began 
to place upon the market excellent imitations of table linen and 
other specialties. 

In all these fields, therefore, the cheaper cotton material, 
aided by technical improvements and refinements of design 
and finish, has had an effect upon the progress of the other 
textile industries. To be sure, internal competition within 
each industry would have tended to cause reductions in the cost 
of manufacturing, but the prices at which cotton substitutes 
were offered served as an added stimulus. 

1 H. Cox, British Industries under Free Trade, p. 40. 



272 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The American cotton manufacturers have been progressive in 
the fields of invention and organization. They have had an 
important share in bringing about the advance of the cotton 
manufacturing industry. The preceding chapters have given 
a view of the historical development and the present status of 
the American cotton manufacturing industry. Its elements 
of strength and weakness have been set forth. That furnishes 
a basis for our final task, the comparison of the conditions in 
Europe and America. 



PART II 

THE RELATIVE POSITION OF THE 
UNITED STATES 



THE RELATIVE POSITION OF THE 
UNITED STATES 

CHAPTER XVI 

GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS 

The history of the American cotton manufacturing industry 
and the analysis of its organization at the present time indicate 
the soundness of the foundations and the strength of the struc- 
ture. But to test its durability and power to maintain itself 
in the world-wide competition, it should be compared with 
the cotton manufacturing industries of other countries. This 
section, therefore, aims at setting forth the relative position 
of America in the cotton manufacturing world, from both the 
industrial and the commercial standpoints. 

For convenience and clearness the industrial aspects are 
classed under four heads, geographical factors, labor conditions, 
technique, and combinations; the knit-goods industry is treated 
separately as a fifth division. 

The numbers of spindles in the various countries in 1910 
are given in the report of the International Federation of 

Spindles, August 31, 19 10 

Great Britain 53>397,ooo 

United States 28,349,000 

Germany 10,200,000 

Russia 8,234,000 

France 7,100,000 

India 5,657,000 

Austria . . . o 4,643,000 

Italy 4,200,000 

Japan 1,943,000 

Spain 1,853,000 

Switzerland 1 ,496,000 

Belgium 1,321,000 

Other 4,982 ,000 

World 133,384,000 

37S 



276 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Master Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Associations, which 
furnishes the most reliable figures on this subject. 

According to the table given on page 275 Great Britain has 
almost twice as many spindles as are in operation in the United 
States, and those two countries together own over one-half of 
the cotton spindles in the world. 

Great Britain, moreover, not only has the largest number 
of spindles, but these are more highly concentrated in a single 
district than are those of any other country. About ninety 
per cent of all the cotton spindles and looms in Great Britain 
are located in the County of Lancaster, 1 which has an area only 
one and one-half times as large as the state of Rhode Island. 

Lancashire was one of the earliest seats of the industry in 
Great Britain, owing to its natural advantages and the presence 
of textile workers in the district. In the early years of its 
growth the water-power furnished by its streams, the port 
of Liverpool through which food supplies and raw materials 
were imported and yarn and cloth exported, and the systems 
of canals and (later) railroads, favored Lancashire. Recently 
the transportation facilities have been augmented by the con- 
struction of the Manchester Ship Canal. In the concentration 
which has taken place, however, there are three factors which 
outweigh the others. In the first place, Lancashire is rich in 
coal, and since it has become necessary to employ steam for 
power, this supply of good coal, which can be delivered at the 
mills for $2.50 per ton, has aided the cotton manufacturers. 
Secondly, the climate of Lancashire is so even in temperature 
and so humid that it surpasses that of every other place in the 
world in its suitability for cotton manufacturing. Finally, 
the Lancashire operatives have so long been accustomed to 
following the mule-carriage or changing the shuttles of a loom 
that their skill is a valuable asset. 

Not only is the industry concentrated within the borders 
of Lancashire, but, attracted by the magnetic force of the 

1 In 191 1 Lancashire had 58,002,435 spindles (including doubling spindles 
which are not included in the above table) and 741,260 looms operated by 1,966 
firms engaged in the cotton industry. — WorraU's Directory. 



GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS 2JJ 

economies of localization, each branch of the industry has drifted 
toward a particular section of the cotton manufacturing area. 
Southern Lancashire, with the adjoining parts of Cheshire and 
Derbyshire, is the spinning and doubling district. In Oldham 
and its neighborhood, moreover, only coarse and medium counts 
are spun, whereas Bolton and Manchester are the centres for 
the spinning of fine yarn. Stockport is preeminently the 
seat of doubling mills. And in northern and eastern Lancashire 
weaving predominates; many of the spinning mills formerly 
located there have migrated southward. 1 Within the weaving 
district there is a similar local segregation, — the manufacture 
of fancy cloth in Preston and Chorley, colored fabrics in Colne 
and Nelson, heavily sized shirtings and dhooties in Blackburn 
and Bury, T-cloths and domestics in Bacup, printers (print 
cloth) in Blackburn, and India and China shirtings in Darwen. 
In fact almost every town has its specialty. Outside of the 
Lancashire district there are two centres of interest to the 
student of the English cotton manufacturing industry, — 
Nottingham for hosiery and lace and Paisley for sewing cotton. 
The chief reasons for this local specialization are the advantages 
derived from the employment of workmen trained in a single 
narrow branch of the industry. 

The geographical distribution of the German cotton mills 
contrasts sharply with the English centralization. The former 
are scattered over the entire Empire with the exception of the 
northern and north-eastern sections. 

Although the density of the spindleage is not uniform through- 
out any of these districts, there is little localization. Dispersion 
is characteristic of German cotton manufacturing, just as it is 
characteristic of the other textile industries and the metal, 
leather, and chemical manufactures in that country. One 
reason for the scattering which is common to all these industries 
is the political sub-division which prevailed in Germany prior 
to 187 1. Local conditions have also affected the location of 
cotton mills, and these we will now examine in detail. 

1 The geographical distribution of spindles and looms is shown by the table 
on p. 321. 



278 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Distribution of German Cotton Mills, 1909 l 

Spindles Looms 

Rhine Province and Westphalia 2,692,964 56,820 

Bavaria 1,787,296 33,977 

Alsace 1,730,264 4i,957 

Saxony 1,480,850 45,537 

Saxony (Vigogne Yarn) 692,168 

Wiirttemberg and Hohenzollera 839,125 23,610 

Baden 547,280 17,429 

Silesia 143,827 20,325 

Rhine Palatinate 142,241 1,710 

Other • 333,224 18,958 

Total 10,389,239 260,323 

This decentralization of the cotton industry is due, in the 
first place, to the establishment of mills where the power offered 
by the streams could be utilized. Secondly, local supplies 
of immobile labor have had some influence. And finally, capital 
and enterprise have been employed in local undertakings in 
preference to ventures in distant fields. 

The lower Rhine district is not only the one which has the 
largest number of spindles and looms, but it is there that the 
progress has been most rapid in recent years. In Westphalia 
alone over one million spindles, eighty per cent of its total at 
the present time, have been erected within twenty years. The 
Westphalian mills are near the richest coal fields of Germany 
and for their raw cotton have a short inland haul from Bremen. 
The mills on the opposite side of the Rhine are in a position 
but slightly inferior. 

Whereas the Westphalian mills have cheap coal, the cotton 
factories in Bavaria and Wiirttemberg have had water-power. 
Mills have been erected on the streams of both northern and 
southern Bavaria, but are more densely located in the Augsburg 
district than elsewhere in that kingdom. In Wiirttemberg 
there is complete dispersion along the Neckar, the Danube, 
and the other rivers and their tributaries. Nearly every mill, 
however, in this south German region has to rely partially upon 
steam power. 

1 W. Rieger, Verzeichnis der itn Deutschen Reiche auf Baumwolle laufenden 
Spindeln und Webstiihle, ed. 1909. 



GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS 279 

The number of spindles in Alsace has been practically sta- 
tionary during the forty years that have elapsed since it became 
German territory. The first spinning and weaving mills in 
Alsace were erected to provide cloth for the print works at 
Mulhausen. Later the water-power of the streams in the 
eastern Vosges encouraged mill building. Now the mills have 
to use steam during part of the year at least, and the coal must 
be brought, as in Bavaria and Wurttemberg, from northern 
Germany. The transfer of allegiance in 187 1, moreover, in- 
volved a change in market. The demand for the relatively fine 
fabrics of Alsace was not as great in Germany as it had been in 
France, and a lower tariff at the same time permitted the English 
competition to be felt more severely. 

The conditions in Saxony are not very different. Some 
small mills are operated almost entirely by water-power, but 
the larger factories have to use steam. The coal fields in the 
extreme western part of the kingdom supply the local mills, 
but the mills in the central section find it as cheap to import 
coal from England. In the eastern region German coal and 
lignite furnish fuel. The comparatively dense population of 
Saxony has offered an abundant labor supply. The number 
of spindles in Saxony is nearly three times greater than twenty 
years ago, and progress has been more rapid than in any other 
part of Germany except Westphalia. 

The remaining districts manifest characteristics similar to 
the larger cotton manufacturing sections to which they are 
adjacent. The mills in Baden, for example, are in relatively 
the same position as those of Wurttemberg, and the spinning 
centre in Hannover adjoins that of Westphalia. 

Each district produces goods of about the same kind and 
quality as are made in the other sections. In general it may be 
said that the finest spinning and weaving are in Alsace, the 
coarsest in the lower Rhine district, and the largest production 
of colored goods in Saxony. The specialities, however, which 
make up the bulk of the German export trade, are identified 
with certain localities. Chemnitz is the centre for the manufac- 
ture of knit goods and upholsteries, Plauen for embroideries, 



280 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Crimmitschau and Werdau for the spinning of vigogne yarn, 1 
Gera for fine dress goods of mixed wool and cotton, Barmen 
for braids and small wares, Crefeld for velveteen, M. Gladbach 
for " buckskins " (cotton and half -cotton trouserings), Elberfeld 
for certain sorts of colored goods, and Mulhausen for prints. 
The only reason for supremacy in a particular line seems to be 
the advantage gained from long experience. 

Climatic conditions are practically the same for the several 
states, but there are considerable variations in the important 
items of the cost of coal and freight charges for the transporta- 
tion of cotton. The freight rate on cotton from Bremen to 
M. Gladbach is 10.68 cents per 100 pounds, and coal costs $3.75 
per ton. The manufacturers in the Chemnitz district pay 17 
cents per 100 pounds for the transportation of cotton from Bre- 
men and $4.25 to $4.50 per ton for their coal. Part of the cotton 
for the Alsatian spinners is obtained from Havre but the freight 
charge to Mulhausen is the same as from Bremen, 22.4 cents 
per 100 pounds, and coal costs $5.00 per ton. The freight rate 
from Bremen to Stuttgart is 22.7 cents per 100 pounds of cotton 
and is slightly higher to Reutlingen and other points further 
south. The charges for the Augsburg district are still heavier, 
24 cents for the freight on cotton, and the price of good quality 
Ruhr coal (No. 3 Nuss) is $6.40 per ton. 

The industry is more localized in France than in Germany, 
but does not approach the English concentration. The chief 
cotton manufacturing sections in France are the Nord, the 
Vosges (Est), and Normandy. Outside of these departments 
there are but few cotton mills. In the Est 2 there are now 
2,836,000 spindles and 64,000 looms, located in 158 mills dis- 
persed along the valleys of the rivers and streams. The industry 
had spread into the western Vosges from Alsace before the 
latter was taken by the Germans. After the war several Alsa- 
tian manufacturers migrated across the border. This, however, 

1 Vigogne yarn is spun from low grade cotton and cotton waste, dyed in the raw 
state. 

2 This district comprises not only the Vosges but also the surrounding depart- 
ments of Muerthe-et-Moselle and Haute Saone, the territory of Belfort and Daubs. 



GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS 28 1 

does not account for the greater part of the expansion, since 
the number of spindles in the Vosges increased only from 412,- 
000 in 1873 to 451,990 in 1885 and 680,980 in 1891. From 1873 
to 1891, likewise, the number of looms increased from 14,475 
to 21,934. But in 1896 there were 1,092,266 spindles and 
30,107 looms in that section. 1 The development after 1890 
seems to have been due, at least in part, to the tariff of that 
year, which gave preferential duties to French cloth imported 
into the Colonies. The gray and white goods and the products 
of the dye and print works of the Vosges were the ones for 
which there was the greatest demand in the colonial markets. 

Although now partially outgrown, the water-power of the 
Vosges was formerly of primary importance to the manufacturers. 
The labor supply, though not skilled, has been sufficiently abun- 
dant to be called a factor in the development. For the rest, 
local entrepreneur ability must receive the credit. The Vosges 
district is so far from the sea and from fuel supplies that freight 
charges have been a serious burden. The freight rate on cotton 
from Havre to Epinal, the commercial centre of the Vosges, 
is 29 cents per 100 pounds, and coal costs $6.00 to $6.40 per ton 
delivered at the mills. It is in spite of these comparatively 
high charges that the number of spindles has shown the greatest 
augmentation in the " Est " during the last twenty years. 

The Norman cotton industry, in contrast to the Vosgian, 
has for a fairly long period been practically stationary. There 
are now about 1,800,000 spindles in this district. Rouen is the 
centre for Normandy, and its proximity to Havre gives it the 
advantage of a low freight rate on cotton, 5.4 cents per 100 
pounds. By its position on the Seine, Rouen can receive im- 
portations of coal directly from England, yet the cost of coal 
in this district is rather hard to estimate, since frequently Eng- 
lish and French coal are mixed in the furnaces. Beaumont 
states that the price of coal at Rouen is $4.00 to $4.40 per ton. 2 
The failure of the cotton industry to expand more rapidly in 
Normandy can hardly be attributed to lack of natural advan- 

1 A. Lederlin, L 'Industrie Cotonnikre, p. 23. 

2 G. Beaumont, L'Industrie Cotonnikre en Normandie, p. 146. 



282 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

tages or lack of enterprise, but rather seems to be due to the 
greater attractiveness, from the business standpoint, of the 
transhipment trade and other industries such as oil refining. 
At any rate, Rouen has an outward appearance of at least as 
great prosperity as any other provincial town in northern or 
eastern France. 

The third large cotton manufacturing region in France is 
the department of the Nord, at Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing, and 
Amiens. The number of spindles in the department is now 
about 2,000,000. The industry has long existed in the Nord, 
and, together with the linen and wool manufacturing industries, 
has an asset in the supply of labor accustomed to textile work. 
Local coal mines supply fuel at a cost of $3.20 to $4 per ton, 
delivered at the mills. The climate is fairly humid. Hence 
the natural conditions are favorable. The canal system and the 
short distance to the sea are less of an advantage to the cotton 
industry than to others. Egyptian cotton is generally imported 
through Dunkirk and Indian cotton through that port or Ant- 
werp; 1 but most of the American cotton is obtained through 
Havre and pays a freight rate of 15.4 cents per 100 pounds. 
So far as freight on American cotton is concerned, therefore, 
the Nord has a rate about midway between Rouen and 
Epinal. 

There is more or less distinction between the products of 
these three districts. In the Nord there are few weaving mills, 
and the production of yarn is of primary consideration. Lille 
is the seat of the finest spinning on the Continent, and a few 
firms rival the English spinners of fine numbers. The climate 
and skilled labor account for this development. The fine yarn 
is sold to lace manufacturers in Calais and elsewhere, and also 
to weavers in all parts of France. In Roubaix, Tourcoing, and 
the surrounding neighborhood, a number of mills spin American 
upland cotton, and a large proportion of that yarn is woven in 
the same district. Upholstery weaving mills producing cotton 

1 Indian cotton is so low in quality that when arriving via Antwerp it is not 
charged with the surtax that is imposed on goods not imported directly from the 
country of origin. 



GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS 283 

fabrics take a part of the yarn. But of more importance is the 
demand from the linen weavers, who use cotton thread in 
manufacturing their linen fabrics. The manufacture of ordi- 
nary cotton cloth is very small in the Nord. Although within 
the same district, Amiens stands quite by itself. In that town 
various textiles are manufactured but among those made of cot- 
ton, velveteen and corduroy predominate. 

The spinners located in Normandy sell yarn to weavers in 
other parts of France, particularly Roanne, and to knit-goods 
manufacturers, but the bulk of the yarn produced in Normandy 
is woven in the local mills. Gray cloth for converting is not an 
unimportant item in the product of the mills of Normandy, 
but that part of France has long been known for its " rouen- 
nerie," or striped and figured cloth woven with dyed yarn. 
The print works of Normandy draw their supply of cloth not 
only from the surrounding mills but also from the Vosges. 

In the Vosges the predominating product is gray and white 
cloth of diverse structure. There are less than 500,000 spindles 
in the Vosges using Egyptian cotton, so that the output of fine 
yarn is relatively small; 28 warp and 37 weft are the common 
numbers. St. Die is the only place in the district where dyed 
yarn is woven on any considerable scale. 

Mention should also be made of a few scattered cotton manu- 
facturing centres. At Troyes a few spinning mills supply a 
fraction of the local demand from the knit-goods manufacturers. 
Roanne is a weaving centre where cottonades and drills are 
manufactured, and in St. Quentin manufacturers of piques 
and other goods of high quality are located. Cotton yarn is 
also consumed in large quantities by the silk manufacturers of 
Lyons and by silk and wool manufacturers elsewhere in France. 
But cotton manufacturing in towns outside of the Vosges, the 
Nord, and Normandy is relatively unimportant. The causes 
for local specialization can generally be traced to the reputation 
established by the early entrepreneurs. Aside from the humid 
atmosphere for fine spinning in the Nord there are apparently 
no particular advantages for local specialization except those 
acquired from experience. 



284 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The cotton mills of Italy 1 are located mainly in the northern 
part of the country, — Lombardy (1,850,000 spindles), Pied- 
mont (1,000,000 spindles), Venetia (550,000 spindles), Cam- 
pania (250,000 spindles), Liguria (250,000 spindles), and Tus- 
cany (100,000 spindles). 2 In the Milan district colored and 
fancy goods predominate, in the neighborhood of Turin the 
finest spinning, and in Venetia the coarsest spinning. The 
industry has developed in those localities where it was first 
established. Water-power and labor supply have been the chief 
factors determining the location of the mills. 

The Swiss cotton mills are located in the eastern provinces, — 
Zurich (620,000 spindles), St. Gall (275,000 spindles), Glarus 
(255,000 spindles), and Aargau (100,000 spindles). 3 The mills 
are scattered among the small villages of the valleys where 
water-power is available, and where the climate is most humid. 
Switzerland is in a peculiarly disadvantageous position in regard 
to transportation, with the result that coal costs from $6.00 
per ton upwards 4 and cotton is one-half cent dearer per pound 
than in England. 5 

Geographical factors have not been the only considerations 
in deciding the location of European cotton mills, nor is the 
element of distance of paramount importance. So far as freight 
rates are concerned, raw cotton can be delivered in some of the 
Continental cities as cheaply as in Lancashire. Ocean freight 
rates are variable, fluctuating according to the quantities of 
cargo to be sent and the capacity of available steamers. The 
following rates, for November 18, 19 10, are typical of the charges 
paid during the season of heavy shipments : — from New Orleans 
to Liverpool 38 cents per 100 pounds, to Manchester 35 to 38 
cents, to Bremen 33 to 36 cents, to Havre 34 to 37 cents, to 
Antwerp 30 to 38 cents, and to Genoa 31 to 35 cents per 100 

1 The following information concerning Italy and a part of that for Switzer- 
land has been taken mainly from The Cotton Industry in Switzerland, Vorarlberg, 
and Italy, by S. L. Besso, an excellent study. 

2 S. L. Besso, op. cit., p. 132. 

3 Ibid., p. 6. 

* Ibid., p. 15 (note). 
6 Ibid., p. 9. 



GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS 285 

pounds. In other words, the ocean rates are practically the 
same from New Orleans to all the chief cotton importing ports of 
Europe. The rates from the ports to the interior points, how- 
ever, are more closely adjusted to distance. The current freight 
rates on cotton are as follows: — 

English Interior Freight Rates per 100 Pounds l 

via Manchester via Liverpool 

(Ship Canal and Railroad) (all rail) 

To Manchester 7.8 cents 15.8 cents 

Stockport 11. 15.8 

Bury ir. 17.2 

Oldham 12. 18.3 

Bolton 12.5 16.8 

Preston 14.4 17.2 

Blackburn 15. 19.3 

Darwen 15. 19.3 

Burnley 16.3 22.5 

The rates from Bremen and Havre to the cotton manufactur- 
ing districts in Germany and France have a higher average. 

Freight Rates from Bremen per 100 Pounds 

To M. Gladbach 10.68 cents 

Chemnitz 17. 

Mulhausen 22.4 

Stuttgart 22.7 

Augsburg 24. 

Freight Rates from Havre per 100 Pounds 

To Rouen 5.4 cents 

Lille 15.4 

Epinal 29. 

Lancashire gains less from lower freight rates on raw cotton 
than from its wealth of coal and its humid climate. 

The following table states the freight rates on raw cotton 
which were in force August 2, 191 1, from three southern ports 
to New England. 2 

1 These rates include dock charges. They were given in a circular issued by the 
Manchester Ship Canal Company, August 2, 1910. 

2 For these figures I am indebted to Mr. T. F. Leavitt, Manager of the New 
England Cotton Freight Claim Bureau. 



286 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Freight Rate per ioo Pounds 

To Boston To Fall River To Lowell 

From New Orleans 34 cents 33 cents 38 cents 

" Savannah 25 31 255 

" Galveston 36 36 40 

The rate from New Orleans to New England, using that for 
purposes of comparison, is almost identical with that from 
New Orleans to European ports. By land the present rate per 
100 pounds of cotton from Memphis to New England points 
is 57 J cents. For the crop year 1910-11, I have the record of 
one shipment from Memphis to Manchester (England) at the 
rate of 64 cents per 100 pounds, and another at 57 cents per 
100 pounds. Since these were stated to be typical examples, 
they indicate the slight difference in freight charges on raw cot- 
ton for the American and European spinners. Except for the 
more remote cotton manufacturing districts on the Continent, 
therefore, cotton can be delivered at the European mills almost 
as cheaply as in New England. 

Coal costs more in New England than in Lancashire, from 
$3.50 to $4.10 per ton in the former l and $2.50 per ton in the 
latter district. However, few of the Continental manufac- 
turers can obtain fuel of equal quality as cheaply as it is to be 
purchased in New England. Water supplies a larger percentage 
of the power used by cotton mills in the United States than in 
England, and fully as much as on the Continent. The English 
climate surpasses the American and Continental climates in 
its suitability for cotton spinning and weaving, but the French 
and Germans have no advantage over the Americans in this 
respect. 

The dense localization in England has of itself yielded advan- 
tages which are not realized elsewhere. The English concen- 
tration has caused the establishment of repair shops and special 
works of various sorts. It has fostered specialization and market 
centralization. Finally it has also been a cause as well as a 
result of the development of a supply of highly skilled operatives. 

1 National Association of Cotton Manufacturers, Transactions, no. 88, p. 236. 



CHAPTER XVII 

RELATIVE LABOR CONDITIONS 

The chief points to be considered in our comparison of labor 
conditions are the composition of the labor force, legal restric- 
tions, trade unions, wages, and textile education. The labor 
conditions in European cotton mills contrast with those in our 
own factories in many respects. In the first place, the Euro- 
pean cotton mill operatives are, for the most part, a permanent, 
comparatively immobile class, whereas in America the immigrants 
in the North and the native whites in the South occasionally 
move from place to place and also more frequently change their 
occupation. 

Lancashire is especially well provided with skilled laborers 
who are accustomed to the mule and the loom from childhood 
and are brought up in the atmosphere of the cotton mill, so that 
for them spinning and weaving becomes almost a second nature. 
In the older Continental centres, likewise, the second and third 
generations of operatives are now at work in the cotton mills. 
But where the industry has expanded most rapidly, as in parts 
of Germany, in Italy, and in Russia, the workers have no heritage 
of skill. In none of these countries do the people often migrate 
from one cotton manufacturing district to another, and they 
seldom shift to other industries. 

The proportion of women, in the second place, is higher in 

Europe than in America. In England the total number of 

persons employed in cotton mills in 1901 was 529,131. Of 

these, 173,239 or 32.7 per cent were males over fifteen years 

old; 296,119 or 56 per cent were women; and 59,873 or 11.3 

per cent were children under fifteen years of age. Moreover 

the proportion of men has remained almost stationary since 

1871; the decline in the percentage of children has been offset 

by the employment of relatively more women. In the United 

States, it will be remembered, the proportion of men has been 

287 



288 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

increasing, and is now higher (51.3 per cent in 19 10) than in 
England. The percentage of children is nearly equal in the 
two countries. 1 

The employment of proportionately more women in England 
cannot be accounted for on the ground of legislative restrictions, 
since the English regulations are no less stringent than our own. 
It is entirely for technical and economic reasons that the Ameri- 
cans employ relatively more men. The solution must be sought 
by analyzing the proportions in each department. In the 
opening, picking, and carding processes the employees are almost 
exclusively men in both countries. A few more men are employed 
as drawing frame tenders in America, and the use of longer and 
heavier fly-frames has caused the introduction of some men 
into this department in the United States, whereas the tenders 
of the English fly-frames are always women. However this 
difference would but slightly alter the percentages. 

In spinning the proportions are such as to increase the diver- 
gence, inasmuch as mule spinners are always men and ring 
spinners generally women or girls. The number of men employed 
in spinning in England in 1901 was 53,975, the number of women 
29,016, and of children 15,869; whereas in the United States 
in 1900 the corresponding numbers were 12,651 men, 19,171 
women, and 16,513 children. Thus there were nearly twice 
as many men as women in the English spinning rooms, in con- 
trast to fifty per cent more women than men in America. The 
processes intermediate between spinning and weaving, further- 
more, employ about the same proportions of men and women 
in both countries. 

Only the weaving department remains, therefore, to account 
for the preponderance of women in English cotton mills and to 
offset the higher proportion of men in spinning. The English 
Census of 1901 reported 154,781 women and 59,324 men as 
engaged in weaving cotton cloth; the United States Census of 
1900 showed 47,941 women and 41,776 men in that occupation. 

1 The percentage of children under 16 years of age in American cotton mills 
was 12.9 in 1905. Making allowance for the difference of one year of age in the 
English statistics, the percentage for England would be no lower. 



RELATIVE LABOR CONDITIONS 289 

Hence among the English weavers the women outnumbered the 
men by nearly 100,000, as compared with an excess of only 
6,000 in the American factories. Moreover the numbers were 
almost equal for the two sexes in America in 1905, — 48,325 
women and 48,248 men. The possibility of giving a man more 
looms, either plain or automatic, has brought about this result 
in our country. The men can accomplish more and earn higher 
wages even with lower piece rates. 

The relative numbers of each class of employees in the German 
cotton industry in 1907 were 96,757 men (33.4 per cent), 136,910 
women (53.2 per cent) and 23,573 children (13.4 per cent) under 
sixteen years of age. These percentages, making allowance 
for the one year's age difference in classifying children, are 
almost identical with those for England, but the distribution 
throughout the separate departments is not the same. Women 
are occasionally employed as picker and card tenders and as 
mule spinners' assistants in Germany. Moreover the rela- 
tively greater use of the ring-frame gives a larger proportion 
of women as spinners. On the other hand there are relatively 
more male weavers in Germany. In passing it is worth while 
to remark that the total number of employees in Germany is 
nearly one-half of that in England although the number of 
spindles is only one-fifth as great; and in comparison with the 
United States, Germany employs 84 per cent as many employees 
for 33 per cent of the number of spindles and 42.7 per cent of the 
number of looms. 

Comparative statistics are also available for Italy, and in 
that country in 1903, twenty-five per cent (34,335) of the total 
number of operatives (138,880) were males over 15 years of age, 
fifty-nine per cent (82,056) were women, and sixteen per cent 
(22,489) were children less than fifteen years old. 1 The pro- 
portions for France and Switzerland would probably approxi- 
mate those of England and Germany rather than those of Italy. 
All, however, show a greater preponderance of women than are 
employed in American cotton factories. Labor laws enter to 

1 S. L. Besso, op. cit., p. 182. 



290 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

a slight extent in explaining the divergence. Social customs 
may also have an effect. But the primary consideration seems 
to be the greater capability of a man. 

Does restrictive labor legislation impair competitive power ? 
The evidence offered by the cotton manufacturing industry 
is not to that effect. Great Britain has led the world in factory 
legislation, and since the first factory act in 1802, her restrictions 
upon the labor of women and children have become more and 
more stringent. The hours of labor have been shortened, the 
minimum age for the employment of children raised, and pro- 
visions for improved sanitary conditions enacted. At the present 
time no child under twelve years of age may be employed, and 
children from twelve to fourteen years old are permitted to work 
only half time. Moreover the hours of labor for women and 
persons less than eighteen years of age are limited to fifty-five 
and one-half per week and night work is forbidden. These 
restrictions are supplemented by requirements in respect to the 
fencing of machinery, the position of self-acting mules, the 
cleaning of machinery in motion, the periodic cleansing of fac- 
tories, and the regulation of humidity in weaving sheds. These 
provisions for protecting the health and the safety of the opera- 
tives are rigidly enforced. 

The German law prohibits the employment of children under 
thirteen years of age in factories and limits the hours for 
those under fourteen to six per day. Women and persons 
from fourteen to sixteen years old are permitted to work 
only ten hours per day and night work is prohibited for those 
classes. 

In France the minimum age is thirteen years except for 
children twelve years old who have a certain school certificate. 
Minors under eighteen and women are to work not more than 
ten hours per day for six days in the week and may not be 
employed at night. The French law of 1902 put a stop to the 
relay system, whereby during the preceding ten years the 
protected classes had worked in shifts. 

The Swiss government prohibits the employment of children 
under fourteen, and those from fourteen to sixteen years old 



RELATIVE LABOR CONDITIONS 291 

are obliged to observe certain requirements concerning education 
and religious instruction. 1 

In Italy twelve years is the minimum age, and girls under 
twenty-one and boys under fifteen must procure a medical 
certificate before they become factory employees. Night work 
for children under fifteen and women is not allowed. The 
hours for the former are restricted to eleven per day and for the 
latter to twelve. 2 

England, therefore, has on the whole more severe restrictions 
than any other European country, and in general the limitations 
are greater in England than in America. England and Massa- 
chusetts are, in this respect, on an almost equal footing, yet 
they are the leaders in cotton manufacturing. The prosperity 
of the industry in these places cannot be attributed to factory 
laws, yet it seems that the English and Massachusetts employers 
have not been placed at the mercy of their competitors by these 
protective measures. 

Another contrast between the labor conditions in England 
and America is in the progress of trade unionism. The strongest 
labor unions in England are in the cotton industry, whereas 
the unions among cotton mill operatives are conspicuously 
weak in America. The Lancashire cotton mill employees have 
been among the foremost in the union movement, and today 
have reached a high stage of organization. The British Board 
of Trade received returns in 1909 from one hundred and forty- 
eight unions in the cotton industry, with a membership of 
271,124. The several unions are federated in the United Textile 
Factory Workers' Association, an organization established in 
1886 for political purposes. 

Among the unions which constitute this central association 
the largest is the Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton 
Spinners. This association was organized in 1870, and has 
gradually expanded until it now includes ninety-six per cent 
of the mule spinners in Lancashire. In 1909 it had sixty branches 
and a membership of 22,506 spinners and 27,843 piecers. The 
other large unions in the English cotton industry, with their 

1 S. L. Besso, op. cit., p. 100. 2 Ibid., p. 210. 



292 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

membership in 1909, are: — the Burnley and District Weavers, 
Winders, and Beamers, with 7,585 male and .10,915 female 
members; the Blackburn and District Power Loom Weavers' 
Association, with 4,933 male and 9,867 female members; the 
Oldham Provincial Card, Blowing, Ring, and Throstle Room 
Operatives, with 2,386 male and 13,875 female members; the 
Nelson and District Power Loom Weavers' Association, with 
5,500 male and 5,500 female members; and the Bolton Card, 
Blowing, Ring, and Throstle Room Operatives, with 1,134 male 
and 7,366 female members. Women predominate, evidently, 
in the weavers' and card-room operatives' unions, which embrace, 
however, a smaller percentage of the total number of persons 
eligible l than is the case with the mule spinners' organization. 
Yet all these unions are powerful and utilize their strength in 
collective bargaining. 

The weakness of the American cotton mill operatives' unions 
has been attributed primarily to the influx of the immigrants. 
The development of the English organizations has been facili- 
tated by the greater stability of the conditions and the higher 
skill of the workmen. This is not a complete explanation, 
however, since only a few miles from Lancashire, across the hills 
in Yorkshire, the operatives in the woolen and worsted mills 
are not nearly as well organized as the cotton workers of Lan- 
cashire. The willingness of the Lancashire operatives to follow 
sagacious leadership must be given a share in the credit for the 
progress of trade unionism in Lancashire. 

The labor unions in the German cotton industry are hardly 
more potent than those in America. There are two classes of 
labor unions in Germany, the socialist and the non-socialist 
(Christliche) unions, the " reds " and the " yellows," and both 
have a foothold in the cotton trade. In a few places the 
socialist unions are alone in the field, those operatives who are 
not socialists remaining unorganized. But in a majority of 
the mill towns where any textile union has been formed, there 
is both a socialist and a non-socialist organization. The two 

1 About 62 per cent of those eligible are members of the weavers' unions and 
70 per cent in the card-room operatives' unions. 



RELATIVE LABOR CONDITIONS 293 

do not work in harmony, and if they are nearly equal in strength, 
the one is played off against the other so as to nullify all efforts. 1 
If one is preponderatingly strong, the other becomes a nonentity. 
In numerous cotton mills none of the employees are members 
of a union, and in others they are associated in a purely local 
organization under the patronage of the employer. 

The French labor unions are very similar to those of Germany. 
There are socialist and non-socialist organizations, but the 
former are the stronger. These unions generally include mem- 
bers from the different textile trades, and hence are not able to 
give careful consideration to the separate branches. They 
have, in fact, more political than economic significance. 2 The 
union membership of cotton mill employees is strongest in the 
north and is practically negligible in the east. The labor 
unions in the Swiss cotton industry have little influence, 3 but in 
Italy Besso states that they exert considerable power. 4 

For the Continent as a whole, therefore, we may say that 
in the cotton industry trade unionism is much weaker than in 
England. The socialistic and political activity of the unions 
has kept part of the workers outside, and the dispersion of the 
industry has retarded combination of the operatives. 

The American operatives have made little resistance to the 
introduction of labor saving machinery. The English operatives 
have also taken a broad view on that subject during recent years, 
and have striven to share the benefits of greater productivity 
instead of hindering the employment of new machines. The 
mule spinners' union, for example, enforces a higher piece rate 
where the minders are provided with antiquated mules, thus 
penalizing the manufacturers who fail to keep their equipment 
up to a high standard. Their object is to enable all the members 
of the union to maintain a fairly even income. The weavers 

1 Until recently the non-socialist unions were riven by internal religious dis- 
sentions, but have now become reconciled. — O. Miiller, Die christliche Gewerk- 
sckaftsbewegung Deutschlands. 

2 The socialists oppose trade, or craft, unions where the attention is given to 
the problems of individual industries rather than to the " class struggle." 

3 S. L. Besso, op. cit., p. 105. 

4 Ibid., p. 217. 



294 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

do not look with favor upon the automatic loom, yet they are 
not opposing its introduction except by keeping up the piece 
rates. 

The employees in Continental mills have a dislike for new 
machines that tend to replace labor, but open hostility is rare. 
The comparatively ill success of the Northrop loom in Europe 
is to be attributed in part to this dislike which has prevented 
the weavers from seeking to obtain the best results. Yet the 
weakness of the labor unions in the Continental cotton fac- 
tories has prevented serious manifestations against new machines. 
Owing to the lower scale of wages in Europe the Continental 
manufacturers themselves have been less ready than the English 
and both less ready than the Americans to adopt labor saving 
machinery. The differences in wages are shown in the follow- 
ing paragraphs. 

Wages 

All international comparisons are difficult, but this is especially 
true in the case of wages. The conditions are so diverse that 
erroneous conclusions may easily be drawn. The English 
mills, particularly the spinning mills, are highly specialized, 
so that a laborer is often employed continuously on a single 
grade of work. In the United States the machinery is readjusted 
more frequently, and on the Continent changes are even more 
frequent than in this country. Again, in America unskilled 
workers are occasionally employed to assist the more highly 
paid operatives, whereas such assistance would not be given 
in European mills. The type of machine and its accessory 
equipment must also be taken into account. 

The relative expense for labor in the cotton mills of the various 
countries could best be stated in terms of percentage labor cost, 
were it possible to secure the data. Unfortunately the unwill- 
ingness of many manufacturers to state their percentage labor 
cost for specified products and the lack of uniformity in methods 
of computation preclude such a comparison. 

In the second place, it is impossible to compare piece rates. 
The English standard lists are for the most part terrifying in 
their complexity, and in America and the Continental countries 



RELATIVE LABOR CONDITIONS 295 

there are no standard lists. The only practicable method, conse- 
quently, is to compare earnings. 

As an index to comparative cost and relative advantages 
in international competition a bald statement of earnings, 
however, is likely to be misleading. The relative output per 
operative must also be considered, since it is the expense per unit 
of product which determines the price at which the manufacturer 
can afford to sell. That output can be indicated by the number 
of machines per operative and the speed at which they run. 
On this basis a comparison of relative labor cost is undertaken 
in the following pages. 1 The results are at best but approxi- 
mately correct, yet the method adopted has the virtue of using 
the more easily ascertainable and therefore the more easily 
verified data. 2 

In each country the elements in this comparison vary between 
more or less distant extremes, and many exceptions to any gener- 
alization can be found. The following averages are those which 
from personal investigation 3 and inquiries seem to be typical. 
They are not arithmetical averages, but representative, full-time 
earnings. The amounts earned in New England are generally 
higher than those in the southern United States, but the former 
are given as representative of the American industry since they 
are the level which is being approached. The data for England 
are the most accurate inasmuch as they have been collected not 
only from the manufacturers but also from the secretaries of 
the trade unions which represent such a large proportion of the 

1 The Tariff Board, I find, has used this method for drawing conclusions in 
regard to relative weaving costs in England and America. My own work was 
entirely independent of that of the Tariff Board and the writing of the manuscript 
completed several months before that report appeared. The conclusions, however, 
are not very different. 

2 There have been two detailed studies of the history of wages in the English 
cotton industry, — A. L. Bowley, Wages in the United Kingdom in the igth Century, 
and G. H. Wood, History of Wages in the Cotton Trade. The latter is the more 
exhaustive. 

3 Part of the information for Switzerland and all of that for Italy has been taken 
from the report of Mr. Besso. The statements of the number of machines per 
operative in Switzerland are given on pages 90-92, in Italy, pages 201-205, and for 
earnings on pages 69-70 and 201-205 of Mr. Besso's book. 



296 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Lancashire operatives. The wide experience of these secretaries 
and the use of standard lists give particular weight to their 
statements. 

The number of machines per operative is influenced not only 
by the skill of the workmen but by the size of the mill, the 
character of the product, and the employment of unskilled 
assistants to help the skilled workmen. Yet it is almost invari- 
ably true that where there is a supply of labor to be had at com- 
paratively low wages, more labor and less capital are employed 
than where labor is relatively dear. 

Picker tenders are generally men, and their task does not 
require a great amount of skill since they only remove the laps 
from one machine, place them on the next, and keep the ma- 
chine clean. In America the number of machines per man 
is from two to six, generally four or five. In English mills the 
standard is three per man, except that where the long combina- 
tion machines are used the number is reduced to two. The 
French or German 1 picker tender has two or three machines, 
averaging somewhat less than the English. In Switzerland 
and Italy there are only two machines per man. The earnings 
are the same in England and America, $7.00 to $8.00 per week, 
but lower on the Continent, $4.50 in Germany, $3.60 in Switzer- 
land and $3.00 in Italy. 

Card tenders belong to the same class as the men in the picker 
room. American card tenders care for fifteen to twenty ma- 
chines and receive $7.00 to $8.00 per week; the English fifteen 
or sixteen machines at $7.50 to $8.75 per week. Yet the English 
operative in this department has to do some work that would be 
cared for by a few more highly paid men in an American mill. 2 
The French or German operative generally has ten to twelve 
cards and receives $4.00 to $4.50 per week. 3 Mr. Besso states 

1 For Germany my data were collected in Chemnitz, Mittweida, M. Gladbach, 
Rheydt, Koln, Kulmbach, Augsburg, the Reutlingen district, and Mulhausen: 
in France at Amiens, Lille, Epinal, and Rouen. 

2 The English card tender grinds the cards, supplies the laps, cleans the machine, 
and makes all ordinary repairs. 

3 The reports of the British Board of Trade on Wages and the Cost of Living 
in Germany and France furnish data on wages, which may well be used for com- 



RELATIVE LABOR CONDITIONS 297 

the number of cards per man to be six to eight in Switzerland 
and seven to nine in Italy. The wages are $3.40 to $4.20 in 
the former country and $2.65 to $3.60 in the latter. 

Drawing frames are watched by women or boys in America 
and by women or girls in other countries. The standard is 
the number of deliveries, since each machine is composed of 
three, six, or eight parts (deliveries) exactly alike. The number 
of deliveries per operative is commonly twenty-four in America, 
eighteen to twenty-one on the same grade of work in England, 
six to twelve in Germany, twelve in France, twelve or less 
in Switzerland, and twelve to eighteen in Italy. The weekly 
wages average about $6.00 in New England, $5.85 in Lancashire 
($6.25 for twenty-four deliveries), $3.75 to $4.25 in Germany 1 
and France, $3.00 to $3.60 in Switzerland, and $2.00 to $2.40 
in Italy. 

Fly-frames are of various lengths, and wages are adjusted 
accordingly. The English standard is eighty-four spindles 
per slubber, one hundred and twenty-four spindles per inter- 
mediate, and one hundred and sixty-four spindles per roving 
frame. The American average would not be far different. 
The American operative usually attends to two sides and receives 
$7.00 to $9.00 per week, 2 but on fine work three sides is not 
uncommon. The English standard rate for an operative with 
two sides on the grade of work common in America is now $5.90 
for slubbers, $5.75 for intermediates, and $5.25 for roving frames. 
In addition there is one assistant per pair of slubbers at $2.75 
per week, one per pair of sides of intermediates at $2.70, and one 
for four sides of roving spindles at $2.60 per week. 

In France a woman and girl are required for two sides, the 
former receiving $3.90 to $4.80 per week, the latter $1.80 to 

parison with those given above. They give the following wages, — for picker 
tenders in Crefeld $5.25, in Miilhausen $3.75 to $4.50, in Belfort $3.60 to $3.89, 
and in Rouen $3.95 to $4.35; for carders in Miilhausen $4.10 to $5.25, in St. Quen- 
tin $3.95 to $4.35, in Belfort $5.50 to $6.25, and in Rouen $3.95 to $4.60. 

1 The wages of drawing frame tenders are no higher in South Carolina than in 
France and Germany. — Cf. A. Kohn, Cotton Mills of South Carolina, p. 44. 

2 When men are employed as slubber tenders in America they earn from $8.50 
to $10 per week. 



298 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

$2.40. The German operative may have two short sides 
and no assistant. Occasionally she has two sides of normal 
length and is assisted by a girl, the woman being paid $3.75 to 
$5.00 and the girl about $3.00. But a majority of the German 
manufacturers employ one woman per side and pay $3.40 to 
$4.50 per week. In Switzerland the fly-frames are generally 
short, and there is one slubber, one side of an intermediate 
frame, or two sides of a roving frame per woman. The roving 
frame tender has an assistant. The women in this department 
of a Swiss mill earn $3.60 to $4.20 per week. The Italian 
girl has one side and is paid $2.40 per week. 

The style and speed of all the machines up to this point are, 
as has previously been stated, quite similar in all countries. 
What divergences appear are in the direction of higher speed in 
America than in England or on the Continent. The average 
output per machine is also lessened in Continental mills by the 
employment of more old machinery. Hence, when the output 
per operative is taken into account, it appears very doubtful 
if the American manufacturer has to pay much more relatively 
for labor in the preparatory processes. 

Ring spinners are invariably girls or women in both America 
and Europe, and the work is not highly skilled. While American 
ring spinners are occasionally put in charge of as few as four 
hundred and fifty spindles, the average is from seven hundred 
and fifty to one thousand. 1 The earnings average $6.50 to $7.50 
per week in New England and about $6.00 in the South. 
According to the secretary of the union, the most competent 
authority, the number of spindles per girl is from four hundred 
to eight hundred in England, and the earnings from $3.75 to 
$5.50. Ring spinners in northern Lancashire earn more than 
those in the southern districts, even for the same grade of work, 
a fact which can probably be accounted for by the demand for 
women as weavers in the former section. 

1 The spinner is generally paid so much per side but the frames are of various 
lengths. American frames are shorter than most of those in Europe, but that does 
not prevent giving the spinner more spindles. The average number of sides in 
America is eight per operative, varying from six to ten or even more. 



RELATIVE LABOR CONDITIONS 299 

To give definite examples; in one Lancashire' mill spinning 
30's the average number of ring spindles per girl was 510 and the 
wages $5.00 per week; in another, spinning 32's to 50's, 768 
spindles per girl at a wage of $6.00 per week. But in many 
mills both averages would be lower. 

A similar variation exists on the Continent. The number 
of spindles per ring spinner in Germany averages not over 
500, and the weekly earnings from $3.75 to $4.25. Occasionally 
the number of spindles per spinner is greater and the earnings 
correspondingly higher; in one mill a girl with 800 spindles 
was receiving $7.00 per week. In the French mills, although 
there are numerous exceptions, the wages of ring spinners 
average about $4.20 per week and the number of spindles per 
spinner 500. In the Lille district it is a common practice to 
employ a woman and a girl to attend to 600 spindles, the former 
being paid $4.20 and the latter $1.80 to $2.40 per week. The 
Swiss ring spinner receives about $3.60 per week for taking 
care of 400 to 500 spindles, the Italian girl $2.10 for 400 to 
600 spindles. 

The speed at which the ring spindles are operated is lower 
in England than America, since the Lancashire average is only 
9,000 revolutions per minute and the American 10,000. In 
Continental mills the average is at least as low as in England. 
Nor are the ends kept up any better by the European spinners. 
As a rule, the work runs fully as smoothly and with as few break- 
ages in American mills. Rings, moreover, are used in the 
United States for the production of yarn that would be spun 
only upon mules in England. 

Mule spinning is relatively less important in America, but 
is nevertheless essential for the production of fine yarns. For 
each pair of mules one spinner (minder) and one piecer are 
employed in America, a minder and two piecers (big and little) 
in England, a minder and two or more often three, or even four, 
assistants in Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy. The 
English mules are the longest. Although mules of less than 
1,000 spindles each are in operation in Lancashire, the majority 
are from 1,000 to 1,450 spindles in length. When the length 



300 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

exceeds 1,200 spindles, however, a third piecer is employed. 
In Germany the mules are from 750 to 1,000 spindles in length, 
rarely more; in France 500 to 1,000, occasionally 1,200; in 
Switzerland 560 to 1,000, averaging about 700 ; J in Italy 750 to 
1,000 or 1,200, but about 800 on the average. 2 The mules in 
use in America are of practically the same length as those in 
Germany, France, and Italy. 

The mule spinner receives a weekly wage of $12.00 to $20.00 
(average about $13.50) in America; from $8.00 to $18.00 in 
England, the actual average being between $11.00 and $12.00; 
$6.00 to $7.50 in Germany and France; 3 and $4.80 to $5.40 in 
Switzerland and Italy. For assistants, the American piecer 
is paid $8.00; the big piecer $4.75 and the little piecer $3.00 to 
$3.50 in England; big piecers $4.00 to $5-oo 4 each and little 
piecers $3.00 per week in Germany; $4.20 5 and $2.40 respec- 
tively in France; all piecers $3.00 to $3.25 in Switzerland; and 
the first piecers $3.00 to $3.60, the second piecer $1.85, and 
boys $1.50 in Italy. The number of assistants of each class 
varies in Continental mills according to the length of the 
mules. But in a majority of cases there are four operatives 
per pair of mules, even if there are only 600 or 750 spindles per 
machine. 

In no department, however, is the comparison of earnings 
more dangerous than in mule spinning, for it is there that the 
skill of the workman is of particular importance. To be sure, 
the high specialization in the English spinning mills fosters the 
acquirement of dexterity by the mule spinners, but for other 
reasons also the English operatives are particularly adept and 
their high earnings do not constitute a comparatively heavy 
burden upon the English employers. It is very doubtful if 

1 S. L. Besso, op. cit., pp. 22-25. 

2 Ibid., pp. 150-153. 

3 British Board of Trade Reports: — Germany, Chemnitz (p. 141), $6 to $6.25; 
Crefeld, $7.50 to $8.50; Mulhausen (p. 354), $6.75 to $7.50; France, St. Quentin, 
$6.60 to $6.85; Rouen, $5 .40 to $6.10; Belfort,$6 to $6.30; Roubaix,$6 to $7.50; 
and France generally (p. 166), $6 to $7.80. 

4 Ibid., Germany, Mulhausen (p. 354), $4.55 to $5. 
6 Ibid., France (p. 166), piecers $4.40 to $5.40. 



RELATIVE LABOR CONDITIONS 301 

French or German mule spinners transferred to English mills 
could command appreciably higher wages than in their native 
land. 

In making these comparisons, it is to be remembered that 
in England and other European countries mules are employed 
for spinning many counts that would be spun upon the ring- 
frame in America. This is true not only of coarse yarn but also 
of finer numbers. Not much yarn finer than 40's, and very little 
higher than 6o's is produced upon the ring-frame in Europe, 
whereas practically all warp yarn, even up to 120's, is spun upon 
that machine in America. When the ring-frame is used for 
work that on the other side of the ocean would be left to the 
mule, it is hard to discover wherein the American spinner is 
at a disadvantage. 

American spoolers vary from fifty to one hundred and fifty 
spindles in length, but relatively few exceed one hundred. A 
girl tends one of these machines, infrequently two, and receives 
from $6.00 to $7.00 per week. The English girl, when equipped 
with a Barber Knotter, cares for fifty to sixty-five spindles. 
The majority of English manufacturers, however, have not 
yet adopted the Barber Knotter, and in their mills the number 
of ends per operative is only thirty to forty on cop-winders, 
and forty to eighty on bobbin- winders. Many English machines 
require that the cops be skewered and placed upon pins, whereas 
in American factories the ring bobbins are merely slipped into 
the wire bobbin-holders. In spite of higher speed the ends are 
kept up better in American spooling departments, and a greater 
production is obtained. Although the earnings fluctuate widely 
owing to their dependence upon the quality of the yarn, the 
English operative generally receives from $4.00 to $4.50 per 
week on cop-winding and $4.50 to $6.00 on bobbin-spoolers. 

Except for a more wide-spread employment of the Barber 
Knotter in Germany, the methods of spoofing closely resemble 
those of the English manufacturers. The number of spindles 
per girl is approximately the same, and the wages are $4.00 to 
$4.50 per week. No material difference is manifest in the 
French factories. The Swiss spooler-tenders have twenty-five 



302 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

spindles each and earn $3.50 per week; the Italian twenty to 
forty spindles at $1.80 to $2.16 per week. 

The number of warping machines which one woman ordinarily 
tends is four in America, but generally one, rarely two, in other 
countries. The American piece rates are lower l although the 
earnings are higher. The weekly wages of, an American warper 
are $7.00 to $9.00, of an English warper tending two machines 
(man) $8.75, tending one machine (woman) $6.00 per week; 
of a German (one machine) $3.75; of a French or Swiss opera- 
tive (one machine) $3.60 to $4.20; and of an Italian (one 
machine) $2.40 to $3.00. The American tender, however, 
seldom does her own creeling; an average of one creeler at a 
wage of about $7.00 per week is required for every three or four 
machines. That work is done by the warper tenders themselves 
in Europe. Nevertheless, the labor cost per machine is lower 
in America than in England, and less time is lost in creeling. 
When the latter factor is considered, the American cost appears 
to be at least as low as on the Continent. 

Approximately the same quantity of labor is required for 
the sizing process in all the countries. The earnings, moreover, 
are practically the same in England and America, namely $11.00 
to $12.00 per week per man. On the Continent 2 they are less, 
$6.00 to $8.00. However the cost of labor for sizing does not 
constitute a heavy charge for the cotton manufacturer. 

It is in the weaving room that the expense for labor is rela- 
tively the heaviest. The finer the cloth or the more complex 
the pattern, the smaller the number of looms per weaver. In 
American mills which produce fine or fancy goods, a few weavers 
have only two looms, but usually, even on this class of work, 
they tend four or six looms. In plain cloth mills, where a less 
progressive management has not equipped the looms with auto- 
matic warp stop-motions, each weaver tends six to eight ma- 

1 Mr. Young stated that these piece rates were 50 per cent higher in England 
than America. — American Cotton Industry, p. 10. 

2 The British Board of Trade Report for France states the weekly earnings of 
sizers to have been $7 to $8 in St. Quentin (p. 332), $6.15 to $6.70 in Roanne (p. 
265). Mr. Besso gives $6 to $7.20 as the wage in Switzerland (p. 92) and $4.80 to 
§6 in Italy (p. 205). 



RELATIVE LABOR CONDITIONS 303 

chines, but where the warp stop-motion has been provided, the 
number of looms per weaver is ten, twelve, or even fourteen. 
These are ordinary looms on plain work. 

Few English weavers care for more than four looms, and on 
cloth of high quality the number is less, — two or three. Eng- 
lish six-loom weavers, moreover, are provided with small assis- 
tants to as great an extent as any American weavers. 

Considering only cloth of simple construction, for purposes 
of comparison, the output per loom is but slightly greater in 
England, although the speed of their looms is from ten to twenty 
per cent higher. The English weaver spends more time in bring- 
ing in his warps and in remedying bad places which could be 
prevented by the use of warp stop-motions. The average output 
per loom per week is about 250 yards of print cloth in Fall 
River. And Mr. Nasmith states l that in Lancashire " a fair 
output of plain cloth, 64 picks, 30 inches wide, from one loom 
is 250 yards in 56 hours." Probably that weekly production 
is more frequently exceeded in England than in America; but 
even in the latter country the output per loom per week occa- 
sionally amounts to 275 or 300 yards. Nevertheless, an Ameri- 
can weaver tends twice as many looms as the English weaver. 

Weaving piece rates are so complex that a comparison is out 
of the question. But we can contrast the weekly earnings per 
loom and per weaver in the two countries. In Fall River at 
the present rates the amount paid for weaving five and one-half 
cuts of regular print cloth, the weekly production per loom, 
would be $i.o8. 2 In England the weekly earnings per loom 
on plain weaves are from $1.30 to 1.55. This indicates the 
difference in piece rates in favor of American manufacturers. 
The weekly earnings per weaver, however, are higher in America, 
$8.00 to $10.00, in comparison with $5.20 to $6.20 for an English 
weaver of plain fabrics. It should also be remembered that the 
English weaver is paid the same piece rate irrespective of the 
number of looms tended, whereas in America the piece rate is 
diminished as the number of looms per weaver is increased. 

1 J. and F. Nasmith, Recent Cotton Mill Construction (3d ed.), p. 156. 

2 The rate per cut has been 19.66 cents since May 25, 1908. 



304 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

A Northrop loom weaver earns slightly more than the plain 
loom weaver in this country, and has charge of fourteen to thirty 
machines. An English Northrop loom weaver runs twelve to 
twenty looms, and for the latter number earns $8.50 per week. 
In the United States the Northrop loom piece rate is about 
one-half the piece rate paid on plain looms; hence when North- 
rops are employed in this country to weave cloth similar to that 
produced on plain looms in England, there is a great saving in 
comparative labor cost to the American manufacturer. 

The Continental mills are, for the most part, equipped with 
English looms, and the speeds approach those attained in Eng- 
land. The output per loom does not fall far short of that obtained 
in British cotton mills. Four looms per weaver is the maximum 
on the Continent, however, and three the average. A German 
weaver earns $5.00 to $6.00 per week, 1 a French weaver $4.80 
on the average, 2 a Swiss $3.60 to $5.40, and an Italian woman 
(two looms) $2.15 to $2.75 per week. In Continental countries, 
as in England, the weaving piece rates, at least for plain cloth, 
do not fall below American standards. 

Definite conclusions as to the exact difference in labor cost 
between the several countries cannot be drawn. One thing is 
certain, however; the earnings of American cotton mill opera- 
tives more closely approximate those received in England than 
we have commonly been led to suppose. And when the output 
per operative is taken into account, it appears very doubtful if 
the labor cost on ordinary goods is appreciably higher in our 
country. The difference in the preparatory and spinning 
processes is slight, and in weaving the advantage is in favor of 
the Americans. The Germans may excel in the production of 

1 British Board of Trade Report for Germany: — Weavers' wages in Chemnitz 
(p. 141), $5 to $6; in Mulhausen (p. 354), $4.10 to $4.90. 

2 British Board of Trade Report for France: — Weavers' wages in Belfort 
(p. 47), $4.20 to $5.55; in Amiens (p. 36), $3.83 to $4.20; in Lille (p. 166), $4.60 to 
$5.39; in Rouen (p. 294), $4.20 to $4.40; in St. Quentin (p. 327), $4.50 to $5.54 
(two looms); in Roanne (p. 265), $3.85 to $4.95 (two looms); and in Roubaix 
(p. 279), $5- 20. 

The maximum number of looms per weaver in the Rouen district is two. — ■ 
U. S. Daily Consular Reports, October 27, 1911, p. 479. 



RELATIVE LABOR CONDITIONS 305 

the cheaper novelties and the French in certain fancy goods, 
but England is still the great exporter of cotton fabrics although 
her work people obtain higher earnings. Similarly, the high 
American wages do not necessarily denote a handicap. The 
cheapest labor may be the dearest. At all events, I have no 
hesitation in asserting that higher wages are one of the least 
of the obstacles which stand in the way of American cotton 
manufacturers in international competition. 

Wage Agreements 

Standard lists have been in vogue for many years in several 
branches of the English cotton industry but have not been 
adopted by cotton manufacturers in other countries. Each 
mill at first had its own scale but this condition has been gradually 
superseded by the development of lists applying to larger areas. 
The extension of these has been concomitant with the rise of 
the labor unions, which have sought to bring about uniform 
conditions in the payment of wages. As early as 1823, at least, 
standard lists were in use, 1 and from 1840 to 1875 were gradually 
extended. 

None of the lists comprehend all the factories engaged in any 
one branch. There are two important spinning lists, the Bolton 
list and the Oldham list. 2 The former was adopted in 1858, 
but has been revised from time to time. It is based upon the 
principle of payment by weight. The Oldham list, which has 
been subjected to little change since its introduction in 1876, 
differs from the Bolton list in that it is worked out on the basis 
of the length of yarn spun. In 1894 it was stated in the Board 
of Trade Report that these two lists regulated the wages of 
seventy-five per cent of the mule spinners of Lancashire and 
Cheshire, and the proportion is over ninety per cent at the 
present time. 

The spinners' lists were established earlier than those for 
operatives in other departments, as a result of the greater prog- 

1 S. J. Chapman, Lancashire Cotton Industry, p. 263. 

2 British Board of Trade, Report on Wages and Hours of Labor, 1894, part ii, 
pp. xix, 22. 



306 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

ress of labor organizations among the spinners. At the present 
time, however, standard lists have been adopted in nearly all 
departments. A list for slubber, intermediate, and roving tenders 
was adopted in Blackburn in 1873, and later the Amalgamated 
Association of Card and Blowing Room Operatives established 
universal lists for all their members except the ring spinners. 
This remaining department cannot easily be brought under a 
universal list since there is a divergence in the rates of northern 
and southern Lancashire, but efforts are being constantly directed 
toward a solution of the problem. 

The wages of operatives employed in spooling, warping, sizing, 
drawing in, twisting, and weaving are regulated by standard 
lists in so far as those employees are members of unions. But 
the lists are not uniform for all Lancashire. In weaving, the 
chief list is that for North and North-East Lancashire, prepared 
in 1892 by a joint committee of representatives of employers 
and operatives. 1 

The complexity of these lists has necessitated the employ- 
ment of experts for their interpretation. The laborers, on their 
side, delegate the safeguarding of their interests to the secre- 
taries of the trade unions. To insure competence, the secretary 
is usually chosen by means of a competitive examination, a 
method which was introduced in 1861. 2 The employers' asso- 
ciations, likewise, have engaged salaried experts who devote 
all their time to that service. Whenever it becomes necessary 
to revise the lists, representatives chosen for that purpose by 
the employers and by the employees confer, but the interpreta- 
tion is left to the experts. 

The results of this method of fixing wages have been beneficial. 
Webb says that "the universal satisfaction with and even pref- 
erence for the piece work system among the Lancashire cotton 
operatives is entirely due to the existence of these definitely 
fixed and published statements." 3 These products of long 

1 British Board of Trade, Report on Wages and Hours of Labor, 1894, part ii, 
p. 27. 

2 Webb, Industrial Democracy, pp. 195-196. 

3 Webb, Trade Unionism, p. 293. 



RELATIVE LABOR CONDITIONS 307 

experience and special knowledge are respected alike by those 
who receive and by those who pay the wages. Each feels that 
he is receiving justice when the judgment is based on the recog- 
nized standard. Moreover, the influence of the expert secre- 
taries, grounded upon a thorough understanding of the conditions, 
has been exerted for a conservative policy, has tended to elimi- 
nate many of the excesses which labor union leaders sometimes 
advocate, and at the same time has promoted the welfare of 
the workers. The demands of each party have received fair 
consideration, and serious friction has been minimized. 1 

All danger of a disastrous labor dispute is not dissipated, 
however, by these lists and the provisions for their enforcement, 
as was shown by the protracted strike which began in 1892 and 
lasted till March, 1893. Worn out by strife, the contestants, 
after much parleying, agreed to a treaty of peace. This was the 
" Brooklands Agreement," * which was signed March 24, 1893, 
by the Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' Associations, 
the Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton Spinners, 
the Amalgamated Association of Card and Blowing Room 
Operatives, and the Amalgamated Northern Counties Associa- 
tion of Weavers, Warpers, Reelers, and Winders. By the terms 
of this compact, notice of any complaint was to be given, and in 
the future no strike or lockout was to take place till after the 
dispute had been submitted to a committee of at least six mem- 
bers, three chosen by each side, and the two secretaries. Full 
evidence was to be presented, and a strike or lockout declared 
only after it had become evident that sufficient concessions 
were not forthcoming. Among other clauses, one stipulated 
that wages should not be changed more than five per cent in 
any one year, either by reduction or increase. The risk of loss 
was compensated by the stability which the plan promised. 
The Brooklands Agreement is still in force, having survived 
the vicissitudes of eighteen years. Disputes still occur, chiefly 
in respect to interpretation, but they are infrequent and both 
sides are in favor of tolerant arbitration. 

1 British Board of Trade, Report on Wages and Hours of Labor, 1S94, part ii, 
pp. 9-10. 



308 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The English experience indicates that the employers as well 
as the employees benefit by having both sides organized so as to 
become parties to a contract for the regulation of wages. That 
the interests of the laborers are furthered by the elimination 
of the danger of exploitation, is self-evident. Similarly, the 
employers profit by the assurance that their competitors are 
paying the same rates for their labor and by the protection from 
strikes which the wage agreement tends to afford. One risk of 
loss is diminished. 

The American cotton manufacturer would gain something 
from such agreements, but he turns instability to greater advan- 
tage. There has been a constant inflow of cheap labor which 
he could exploit. Although he sacrifices the advantages of 
uniformity and is subject to continual change, he can keep 
wages at a lower point and resist the demands of his workmen. 
Consequently American cotton manufacturers, as a rule, abhor 
labor unions, and even in Fall River have looked upon the wage 
agreement as a necessary evil. 

Against this exploitation by their employers the American 
cotton mill operatives have protected themselves mainly by their 
willingness to change their place of abode. It is doubtless true 
that this mobility has weakened the union spirit, but it has 
enabled the workmen to take advantage of the competition of 
employers over a wide area. Yet the greater mobility of Ameri- 
can laborers during a period of rapid industrial expansion has 
been at best but a poor substitute for the protection which the 
English operatives secure from their unions. The Continental 
cotton mill employees have not enjoyed equal safeguards from 
either of these sources; yet it is to be remembered that many 
of the Continental mills are situated in agricultural districts 
where work upon the soil offers an alternative to employment 
in a cotton factory. 

From the laborer's point of view not only earnings but the 
cost of living ought to be compared; that, however, is a task 
that would require an investigation beyond the scope of this 



RELATIVE LABOR CONDITIONS 309 

study. 1 The manufacturing companies in America, England, 
Germany, and other countries frequently own dwellings, which 
are rented to their employees. It is not uncommon, particularly 
in the southern United States and in Germany, for the rent to 
be placed at a nominal figure; hence the unremunerated expense 
of building these houses and keeping them in repair should be 
charged to the wage account. A few company stores are still 
to be found in the southern United States and in Germany, 
in the more isolated villages, but the abuses of the trucking 
system are apparently absent. 

The conditions under which the operatives work are very 
diverse within each country. In America there are mills where 
the rooms are well lighted, free from dust, and with proper 
hygienic sanitary arrangements. The same statements hold 
true for England, Germany, and France. A few mills in all these 
countries are dirty, ill-ventilated, and without decent toilet 
facilities. But, although the larger mill towns are not attractive 
in appearance, the condition of the operatives and their habita- 
tions must be distinguished from the conditions in the mills 
themselves. To the observer the latter seem, for the most part, 
to be good. 

Textile Education 

In conclusion the status of textile education should be con- 
sidered. As we have seen, the American textile schools are 
particularly useful in serving the operatives themselves. The 
Lancashire textile schools, similarly, lay the greater emphasis 
on the evening classes. The textile course at the Manchester 
Municipal School of Technology in 1909-10 had an enrolment 
of 108 day students and 426 evening students. In the other 
large cities in Lancashire, as in Preston, Bolton, and Burnley, 
there are technical schools with textile departments, but, in many 
of these, classes are conducted only in the evening. The students 
are mainly young men, — mechanics, designers, spinners, and 
occasionally weavers, who undertake to fit themselves for higher 

1 The recent Reports on the Cost of Living in France and Germany, issued by the 
British Board of Trade, contain much valuable information on this point. 



3IO THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

positions. The overseers are recruited from this class. But 
the majority of the operatives do not attend the schools, and 
the proportion seeking such education is less than in the New 
England cities where textile schools are available. 

German textile education is primarily for the sons of mill 
owners, directors, merchants, and others who can afford to devote 
all their time to study, and the instruction is largely confined to 
day courses. Although there are a few evening schools, young 
men of promise sometimes enter the day courses of the textile 
schools after having worked several years in a mill, the expenses 
being paid from their savings or by their employers. 

The courses for the day students in Germany are generally 
shorter than in America or England. 1 A few specific examples 
will make this clear. The textile school at Reutlingen, which 
averages 140 to 150 students per year, has a one year course in 
spinning, a one year course in weaving, a two year course in 
designing, and other supplementary courses of one year each. 
The M. Gladbach institution has a spinning course and a weaving 
course, each of one year's duration, and a finishing course for 
which two years are required. The Mulhausen Spinning and 
Weaving Schools each offer a one year course, the number of 
students in both averaging sixty. In other schools the courses 
are from three months to two years in length. 

Technical education in France bears much resemblance to 
that of Germany. The schools in which textile courses are 
given have varying standards of requirements for admission. 
The National Technical School at Lille, in which the courses 
in spinning and weaving are of three years' duration, imposes a 
high standard. The Municipal Spinning and Weaving School 
in the same city is of lower grade. The National Professional 
School at Armentieres, which has only a weaving department, 
trains boys- who have been apprenticed to that trade. At 
St. Quentin and Amiens, technical schools with textile courses 
are supported by the local manufacturers' associations. That 
at Amiens is of long standing, having been established fifty- 
five years. Both of these institutions, unlike the others, hold 

1 The courses in spinning and weaving at Manchester are three years each. 



RELATIVE LABOR CONDITIONS 311 

classes in the evening as well as in the day. But the number 
of students is not large; there were thirty-five evening students 
in weaving at Amiens in 191 1. At Epinal a branch of the 
Industrial School is devoted to spinning and weaving, but only 
day sessions are held. The number of students enrolled in this 
school in 19 10 was twenty. Except for the evening schools, 
we may say that the object of the various institutions is to fit 
the students for positions as overseers or managers. 

The contribution of the Continental textile schools is not 
to be belittled, yet one may suspect that too much credit is 
occasionally given to these institutions for the part they play 
in the development of the industry in their respective countries. 
The number of students attending the day classes is compara- 
tively small, and the number of evening students still smaller. 

The New England textile schools, in addition to the advanced 
work of the day classes, open opportunities for instruction to 
the immigrants and in that way improve their efficiency as 
laborers, and accomplish more perhaps for the operatives them- 
selves than for the manufacturers. The English employers, 
likewise, benefit from the increase in the supply of men who can 
take responsible positions in the mills. Yet there again, it is 
the social significance which attracts particular attention. The 
ambitious youth, although he has to work all day in the mill, 
may materially improve his condition, provided he has sufficient 
mental capacity and enough energy. The evening textile 
school is a valuable means of economic and social advancement. 
But on the Continent it is only the very exceptional boy from 
the operative class, who can make use of the trade school. 
The bulk of the operatives cannot improve their condition in 
that way, and social barriers are thereby kept more impregnable. 
In our own country the efforts of the textile schools should be 
heartily supported, if for no other reason than to give a better 
chance to those workmen who are willing to help themselves. 



CHAPTER XIII 

plant; scale of production; specialization 

The equipment, arrangement, and management of plant, the 
scale of production, and specialization are subjects so closely 
allied that they have been included in a single chapter in the 
continuation of our comparison of the European and American 
cotton manufacturing industries from the industrial standpoint. 

Plant 

The first of these topics, plant equipment, has been partially 
discussed in the chapter on technical development and therefore 
here needs only to be supplemented and summarized. Although 
each important invention has been imported from the country 
where it was made into the other cotton manufacturing countries, 
technical equipment is by no means uniform. Inasmuch as 
the majority of Continental mills are equipped entirely or in 
part with English machines and the machines manufactured 
upon the Continent are, with few exceptions, modeled upon 
English types, the chief differences are between English and 
American machinery. 

In a few mills in England and on the Continent the cotton 
from the bales is still loosened by hand without a bale-breaker. 
But except for the methods of transferring the fibre from the 
bale-breaker to the opener or hopper feeder * and the more fre- 
quent employment of one or two extra machines, the beaters, in 
European factories, the bale-breakers, openers, and pickers are 
in general much the same in Europe and America. 

A few of the old rolier-and-clearer and also Wellman cards 
are in operation in English mills for regular carding work, in 
addition to those employed for carding waste. The labor cost 
is two and one-half times as great on the old-fashioned machines, 
but their owners consider that this extra expense would be offset 

1 See ante, p. 58. 
312 



PLANT; SCALE OF PRODUCTION; SPECIALIZATION 313 

by the cost of replacement. On the Continent a few roller- 
and-clearer cards and also stationary-flat cards (not self-strip- 
ping) are still at work in cotton mills where the owners are 
especially economical in capital expenditure. But a majority 
of the European mills are provided with revolving-flat cards. 
The differences in the drawing frames and fly-frames used in 
America and Europe are only in minor details. 

The relative position of the mule in England and the ring- 
frame in America has already been explained. On the Conti- 
nent there is no such predominance of one type of spinning 
machine. The number of ring spindles is nearly equal to the 
number of mule spindles. In 1907 they stood as follows: — 

Spindles, 1907 * 

Mule Ring 

Germany 5,740,000 3,722,000 

France 4,122,000 2,481,000 

Austria 2,307,000 1,277,000 

Italy 1,015,000 1,852,000 

Russia 1,031,000 1,320,000 

The mule and ring are used to about the same extent, but 
the ring is gaining ground. Although in the older cotton manu- 
facturing centres a supply of mule spinners has been available, 
it has not been sufficient to provide for all the new mills. And 
where plants have been established in fresh localities, reliance 
has had to be placed upon untrained labor. The improvements 
in the ring-frame, moreover, have overcome previous prejudices. 
These factors have encouraged the installation of ring-frames. 
As a counter-influence, fine spinning has caused the retention 
of part of the mules, especially in France, and the more extensive 
use of short staple American cotton and low grade Indian fibre 
has also favored that machine. The Continental spinners, 
notably the Germans, purchase relatively large quantities of 
low grade material. Finally, the life of a mule is long and the 
difference in the labor cost of mule spinning and ring spinning 
is not so great in the Continental countries; hence the mules 
have not been scrapped as fast as in America. 

1 From the circular issued by the International Federation of Master Cotton 
Spinners' and Manufacturers' Associations in 1907. 



3 14 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Where the ring-frame is employed in mills that have no 
weaving department, the English and particularly the Continen- 
tal spinners frequently use pasteboard tubes instead of bobbins. 
In this way they get around the inconveniences of either reeling 
the yarn or shipping it upon the heavy wooden bobbins. The 
tubes, however, do not give as good results as the bobbins. 

The speed of the ring-frame, lastly, is lower on the average in 
Europe. Although some spinners drive their spindles at a 
speed of 9,500 and 10,000 revolutions per minute, the majority 
do not exceed 9,000. The cotton which they use is shorter and 
not as capable of withstanding the more severe strain of the high- 
est speeds. 

Spoolers of the English type, without the wire bobbin-holder, 
are employed in Continental factories. The Barber Knotter 
is more prevalent on the Continent than in England, although 
not as universal as in America. English warpers are commonly 
used in Continental mills, but machines of the American type 
are more numerous than in England. The American warp- 
tying machine, moreover, has found a more ready acceptance 
in Germany than in England, in spite of the fact that the con- 
ditions for its use are no more favorable. 

The under-pick loom, which is exclusively used in America, 
is employed in Europe only for special types of heavy loom. 
Over-pick looms of English design prevail. The European 
looms, except the automatics, are rarely, if ever, provided with 
warp stop-motions. As has been stated, the speed of the looms 
is higher in England than America. The Continental manufac- 
turers approach the English standard, but seldom reach it. 
Most of the mills on the Continent are equipped with humidifi- 
ers, but these devices are not required by many of the English 
mills, although a few have them ready for use on the dry days 
so rare in Lancashire. 

The finishing machines in Europe are as diverse as in America, 
and of similar type. In converting establishments, also, the 
technical appliances resemble those in this country. But the 
American manufacturers convert larger quantities at a single 
operation. English printing machines are at work both in 



PLANT; SCALE OF PRODUCTION; SPECIALIZATION 315 

America and on the Continent, but aside from better construc- 
tion they are not different from those of domestic manufacture. 
The output per machine, however, is not the same. The average 
weekly production per printing machine is about 75,000 yards 
in America, 20,000 in England, 1 and from 15,000 to 20,000 in 
Germany. This contrast is accounted for by the smaller orders 
accepted in the European countries, which necessitate more 
frequent changes of the rollers and thus incur loss of time. 
In English bleacheries cylinders or stenters are ordinarily em- 
ployed for drying the cloth, but the use of sheds has not been 
entirely given up, and in Germany large quantities of cloth 
are dried by being hung from the top of big rooms filled with 
hot air. This shed, or stove, drying not only takes more time, 
but is far more laborious. For the American the slight supe- 
riority in the appearance of cloth dried in that way would 
not counterbalance the extra expense for labor that would be 
involved. 

In conclusion, it may be stated that cotton manufacturers, 
whatever their nationality, have in the main adjusted their 
machines to the economic conditions under which they work. 
The best in one place may be inferior when transplanted. 

While English textile machinery is exported to other coun- 
tries in large quantities, the boilers and engines made in England 
are no better and perhaps inferior to Continental machines. 
Several English mills, in fact, have installed Belgian engines 
which have proved very satisfactory. The German mills all 
have German engines, but the Babcock and Willcox self-stoking 
boiler is widely used. For transferring the power the rope- 
drive is almost universally employed in Europe, whereas the 
American mills ordinarily have belts. Until 1876 nearly all 
of the Lancashire mills had toothed gearing, 2 but that is still 
retained by only a few of the older mills. The electrical drive 
has made less headway in England than in America or Germany, 
but its progress is slow in these latter countries. Nasmith 

1 T. M. Young, American Cotton Industry, p. 119; also S. H. Higgins, Dyeing 
in Germany and America, p. 49. 

2 J. and F. Nasmith, Recent Cotton Mill Construction (3d ed.), p. 12. 



316 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

summarizes the advantages of the electric drive thus: 1 — "The 
prime mover and the machinery may be placed in any relative 
position; each machine can be driven independently, without 
reference to the others, or where grouping is necessary, greater 
simplicity is possible with less cost in regard to shafting; greater 
steadiness of driving, and consequently greater output per 
machine; greater immunity from break-down; less cost in run- 
ning on light loads; and continued check on power consumed." 
The elimination of shafting and belting also gives better light. 

Another method of eliminating the darkness and shadows 
from the interior of the cotton mill is by means of the saw-tooth 
roof. In Europe as well as the United States weaving sheds of 
recent construction, and occasionally other mill buildings, are 
very often lighted from the roof in this way. Everywhere 
the advantages of superior lighting have been recognized. 

Cotton mill buildings have much the same appearance in 
Europe and America, although the factories in the latter country 
are more frequently of greater height than in Europe. The 
internal arrangement is so heterogeneous in European factories 
that it is very difficult to fix any standard for comparison. 
We may say, however, that the most modern European struc- 
tures are generally well-planned. A good example is the new 
mill of the Mechanische Spinnerei und Weberei in Augsburg. 2 
Among the unique features of that plant is the basement in 
which are located water pumps, oil pumps, machines for recover- 
ing and purifying oil, and an elaborate system for compressing, 
heating, humidifying, and distributing fresh air to all parts of 
the mill. The windows of the mill are of special glass, designed 
by Director Fessman, which is grooved at angles which diffuse 
more light than is admitted by ordinary glass. The overseer's 
office in each department is built in the wall at the end and 
raised above the level of the machinery, so that the overseer 
can observe everything that goes on in the room, even while he 
is engaged in making his tests or preparing his reports. Finally, 

1 J. and F. Nasmith, op. cit., p. 275. 

2 The director and one of the overseers of this mill are the inventors of the 
Fessman-Hammerle creel and warper. 



PLANT; SCALE OF PRODUCTION; SPECIALIZATION 317 

convenient cloak-rooms with lavatory facilities are provided 
for the operatives, one for the men and another for the women. 

The cost of constructing a new mill is lower in England than 
elsewhere. A spinning mill equipped with mules costs from 
$7.00 to $7.50 per spindle; a ring spinning mill, which requires 
more preparatory machinery for the same number of spindles, 
$10.00 per spindle. 1 The cost of a weaving mill is entirely 
dependent on the style and width of loom installed and auxiliary 
machinery required. One authority places the cost for a plain 
goods mill at $126 per loom. 2 This may be considered as the 
minimum. The estimates for the cost of a mill in the United 
States ($15.00 to $20.00 per spindle) were for the typical estab- 
lishments that have both spindles and looms. In England a 
ring spinning mill with full complement of looms would cost 
from $13.00 to $16.00 per spindle. 3 One reason for the higher 
cost in America is the duty of forty-five per cent on imported 
machinery, in addition to the natural protection of about twenty- 
five per cent that the American machinery manufacturers enjoy 
because of the extra cost of shipping from England. 

In Germany, to give a typical example for the Continent, 
a spinning mill costs from $10.00 to $17.00 per spindle, averaging 
about $15.00 for coarse and medium counts, and a weaving 
mill from $200 to $300 per loom. 4 Thus a combined spinning 
and weaving mill would cost from $15.00 to $25.00 per spindle. 
The average for the coarse and medium counts would be very 
nearly the same as in America. The price of textile machinery 
in Germany is likewise affected by the tariff. 

There has been speculative promotion of mills in the southern 
United States, but little in New England. In Lancashire, 
during the recent mania for erecting cotton mills, the speculative 
element was prominent. A few men joined hands to start an 

1 When business is unusually slack, the cost may fall slightly below these figures. 

2 A. F. Barker, Textiles, p. 333. 

3 The cost of an English spinning mill without looms has occasionally been com- 
pared with the cost of an American mill that embodied both departments. Mr. 
Young (American Cotton Industry, pp. 8-9) states that the cost for similar mills 
is but slightly higher in America. 

4 Jahrbuchfur die gesamte Baumwoll-Industrie, 191 1, p. 328. 



3.1-8 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

enterprise and then solicited subscriptions to the stock. A 
Liverpool broker was given the exclusive privilege of buying 
the cotton provided he took a block of shares, Machinery 
manufacturers exchanged machinery for stock, and other supply 
dealers, such as oil merchants and belt merchants, accepted 
stock in return for which they were granted compensating 
privileges. Finally, a yarn merchant would purchase a small 
amount of stock for the sake of the agency for the product. 
Thus the mill started out, bound hand and foot, subject to com- 
petition in the disposal of its output, but enjoying few of the 
advantages of competition in procuring its supplies. 

Management 

There is greater heterogeneity in the distribution of the 
responsibility for mill management and direction in England 
than in America. It varies with the size of plant, specializa- 
tion, and form of ownership. First in order is the large joint- 
stock company, carrying on both spinning and weaving, and 
perhaps finishing. In this case one director assumes responsi- 
bility for one department, another for another, and under each 
is a works manager. The selling of the goods, also, may be in 
the hands of a single director, and the relations of these manag- 
ing directors to each other regulated by the whole board. In 
the next place, a joint-stock company which only spins or weaves 
will have a managing director, corresponding to the American 
treasurer, who assumes the whole responsibility. But he will 
very likely have a works manager to superintend the mill. 
This approaches most nearly to the American practice. 

In addition to the joint-stock companies there are the private 
concerns, with and without limited liability. In these the 
ownership is generally in the hands of one man or, at most, one 
family. The owner attends to the merchandizing and may also 
take an active part in superintending the mill, although he 
frequently leaves that almost entirely to a manager. A small 
manufacturer (weaver) or even spinner may manage his plant 
personally and also sell the goods. For the latter purpose he 
may secure assistance from an agent, although it is by no means 



PLANT; SCALE OF PRODUCTION; SPECIALIZATION 319 

uncommon for him to undertake the sale of the yarn or cloth 
himself on the Manchester Exchange. 

The superintendent, or works manager, in an English mill 
has not, as a rule, had so much experience as an American cotton 
mill agent or superintendent. Nor does he receive nearly as 
high a salary. A majority of English mills confine their opera- 
tions not only to either spinning or weaving, but to a limited 
range of work within one field. Hence the management is not 
as difficult as the superintendence of an American cotton mill 
in which all the processes from the opening of the bales of raw 
cotton to the weaving and perhaps the finishing of the cloth 
are united in a single plant. 

The Continental mills are superintended on the same system 
as the English, but the private, unincorporated concern is more 
common than in England, and in general we may say that the 
proprietors exercise a closer oversight over their establishments. 
While this is possible where small mills are the rule, the scale 
of production in America necessitates a division of the labor of 
management. 

An elaborate system of reports has been adopted by very 
few English cotton mills. Each mill has some means of identify- 
ing every lot of material, to ascertain to which workmen it has 
been entrusted. A record of output is also kept, since most of the 
operatives are paid piece rates and reports are essential for 
making up the pay-roll. There the report system stops. A 
spinning mill usually limits itself to the production of a few 
numbers, hence each machine regularly performs a certain 
share in the work. The power cost and machinery charges, 
therefore, are well known to the spinner. The wages, further- 
more, are fixed by the union list, and the charge for each number 
and kind of yarn specified. The amount allowed for raw material 
depends on the current market quotations. Finally, the remain- 
ing element, the charges for superintendence, insurance, etc., 
do not have to be distributed over a great number of different 
products, and from past experience it is possible to determine 
with sufficient exactness how much should be ascribed to each 
lot of yarn. 



320 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Many English weaving mills, likewise, although they manu- 
facture a wide variety of goods, seldom take up new lines, and 
therefore consider that their rough-and-ready methods of costing 
the goods are sufficient for their needs. The following is the 
formula used by many Lancashire manufacturers for deciding 
what quotations to offer. They ascertain the cost of the yarn 
required, add the labor charge for weaving as fixed by the union 
list, and then for general expenses add an amount equal to the 
weaving price. If business is dull, they seek only three-fourths 
or one-half of the weaving price, while in times of unusual pros- 
perity twice the weaving price is charged for general expenses. 
This method may be adequate for plain goods, but where a 
mill is manufacturing goods of fancy design, a formula of this 
sort will hardly suffice. There a more scientific method of cost 
determination would be advantageous. 

Scale of Production 

Although the cotton manufacturing industry was one of the 
first in England to be brought under the factory system, the 
domestic system was not at once entirely superseded, as is 
shown by the prolonged struggles of the hand loom weavers. 
The practice of spinning on commission, also, was continued 
well into the second quarter of the nineteenth century. 1 These 
spinners rented room and power in a mill building where they 
could operate a few machines. Those favored by prosperity 
gradually expanded their business and some eventually became 
prominent. By i860, however, the factory system predominated 
and since then the size of the mills has steadily increased. 

At the present time a typical Lancashire spinning mill of 
recent construction has about 80,000 spindles. The older 
mills are somewhat smaller. The following data have been 
compiled from Worrall's Directory for 191 1. 

1 S. J. Chapman, Lancashire Cotton Industry, pp. 60-64. A similar method was 
tried in Fall River early in the nineteenth century but continued only a short time, 
— H. H. Earl, History of Fall River, p. 23. 



PLANT; SCALE OF PRODUCTION; SPECIALIZATION 32 1 

Lancashire Cotton Mills, 191 1 l 

Spinning Spinning-Weaving Weaving 

District Estab. Spindles Estab. Spindles Looms Estab. Looms 

Oldham 198 15,115,131 14 940,202 13,234 5 3,144 

Manchester 85 8,156,434 16 768,367 16,740 95 33,603 

Bolton 69 7,5 OI ,793 *3 681,232 13,504 42 20,191 

Rochdale 48 2,899,540 16 583,590 10,155 23 8,832 

Ashtonu. L 34 2,377,514 6 412,714 8,625 4 2,741 

Stockport 21 1,837,364 9 386,272 8,112 4 1,589 

Preston 14 851,030 20 1,333,218 30,801 46 34,3 X 2 

Bury 5 334,702 23 620,704 n,499 16 10,356 

Chorley 5 339,36o 11 609,952 15,103 19 12,911 

Blackburn 7 295,946 17 971,884 23,946 86 64,299 

Burnley 4 124,328 14 457,098 14,202 no 85,740 

Accrington 6 459, 6 56 8 172,800 4,477 40 29,925 

Darwen 3 127,784 5 148,710 2,731 43 3 J ,84i 

Bacup 1 70,000 n 279,072 7,743 6 1,902 

Nelson 1 23,200 118 52,7°9 

Colne 2 147,500 3,876 77 21,232 

Other 94 4,366,884 51 3,020,932 61,268 125 68,867 

Total 595 44,880,666 236 11,634,247 246,016 859 484,194 

Per cent of total 35.2 79.5 14 20.5 33.7 50.8 66.3 

Aver, per establishment 75,430 49,300 1,042 564 

For these mills, therefore, the averages are: — 75,430 spindles 
per spinning mill; 49,300 spindles and 1,042 looms per spinning 
and weaving mill; 68,000 spindles per mill for all mills which 
spin (including both of the former); 564 looms per establish- 
ment for mills devoted only to weaving; and 667 looms for all 
mills which weave. Thus the average size of the spinning 
mills in Lancashire is approximately the same as in New Eng- 
land, but a much larger proportion of the American mills have 
looms as well as spindles. 

Classifying all the mills in which cotton yarn is spun in Lan- 
cashire, 2 we obtain the following results. 675 have less than 
100,000 spindles, 103 from 100,000 to 149,000 spindles, 26 from 
150,000 to 199,000 spindles, 17 from 200,000 to 249,000 spindles, 
6 from 250,000 to 299,000 spindles, and 4 over 300,000 spindles. 

1 Doubling spindles, and spindles in mills spinning waste are not included. The 
districts do not correspond exactly to Worrall's divisions in a few instances, and 
the returns are not entirely complete. 

2 Compiled from Worrall's Directory. 



322 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The largest spinning concern, excluding the combinations, is 
the Musgrave Spinning Company of Bolton, with 460,000 
spindles. This is larger than any concern in the United States 
except the Amoskeag Mills and the Fall River Iron Works. 

In weaving, five manufacturers operate over 3,000 looms each, 
and seventeen have 2,000 to 2,999 looms. At the other end of 
the scale, fifty-six each have only 100 looms or less. The largest 
weaving company is Horrockses, Crewdson & Co., with 9,530 
looms in two plants. The same company also has 250,000 
spindles in its mills, thus making it the largest independent 
enterprise in the English cotton industry. 

The number of small weaving concerns has been mentioned. 
Many of these are in Colne and Nelson, where the so-called 
" room and power system " is predominant. A group of capi- 
talists build a weaving shed, with all the equipment necessary 
for preparing and weaving the yarn, and then lease the plant 
in whole or in part. Sections, partitioned off so as to hold from 
fifty to two thousand looms each, are leased to different parties, 
the power being supplied by the syndicate. To quote from 
Mr. Whittam, there are three different plans on which leases 
are made. 1 " First. The tenant rents room and power only, 
installing his own looms. For this he will pay from $9.15 to 
$10.80 per loom per year. Second. Renting room and loom 
only will cost from $8.40 to $10.80 a year per loom. 2 Third. 
Renting room, loom, and power involves a rental ranging between 
$13.20 and $16.80 per loom a year." The persons leasing these 
establishments are weavers who begin on a small scale and 
gradually expand their business. They fill small orders for 
fancy goods, and in this way the workmen with skill and mana- 
gerial ability have an opportunity to utilize both. 

In 191 1 only four of the one hundred and nine manufacturers 
in Nelson 3 were established in buildings not shared by others. 
In several instances only two weavers were located in a single 
factory, but other factories contained a larger number. A few 

1 W. Whittam, Jr., Report on England's Cotton Industry, p. 14. 

2 This form is not common. 

3 Worrall's Directory. 



PLANT; SCALE OF PRODUCTION; SPECIALIZATION 323 

manufacturers had looms in two or more sheds. In Colne 
forty-two manufacturers each used part of a building, and 
fourteen had entire factories. This system has assisted the 
expansion of the industry in that corner of Lancashire. 

The factory system developed more slowly in Germany than 
in England or the United States. Spinning, in part at least, 
had been brought under the factory system before i860, but the 
mills were small; the average size of spinning mills in Saxony 
in 1861, according to Martin, 1 was only 4,263 spindles. During 
the rapid industrial expansion which has taken place since the 
close of the Franco-Prussian War, the cotton manufacturing 
industry has been in the front rank, and with this progress the 
size of the mills has increased. In 1892 Martin stated the 
average size of the spinning mills in the Empire to be 25,000 
spindles, although there were several larger factories. 2 

At the end of 1908, by Rieger's list, 3 there were 396 mills in 
Germany which were spinning cotton yarn, and the average 
number of spindles per mill was 26,235. Separating the mills 
into groups classified according to size, two had more than 
200,000 spindles; two 150,000 to 200,000; seven . 100,000 to 
150,000; forty- three 50,000 to ioq,ooo; two hundred and twelve 
1,000 to 10,000; and nineteen less than 1,000 spindles each. 
The number of large mills has increased since 1898, when there 
were only seven with more than 100,000 spindles and twenty- 
three with from 50,000 to 100,000 spindles; 4 but the survival 
of so many small mills is significant. 

In the weaving branch of the German cotton industry, the 
domestic system, which was extensive in i860, did not disappear 
until the end of the nineteenth century, and small mills are still 
numerous. Although in 1908 seven mills had more than 2,000 
looms 5 and thirty-eight 1,000 to 2,000 looms each, two hundred 

1 R. Martin, " Der wirtschaftliche Aufschwung der Baumwollspinnerei im 
Koenigreiche Sachsen," Jahrbuchfiir Gesetzgebung, 1893, p. 650. 

2 Ibid., p. 672. 

3 Wm. Rieger. Verzeichnis der im Deutschen Reiche auf Baumwolle laufenden 
Spindeln und Webstuhle, ed. 1909. 

4 A. Oppel, Die Baumwolle, p. 666. 
6 Wm. Rieger, Verzeichnis. 



324 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

and nineteen had each only ioo looms or less, and the average 
for the 811 weaving mills for which Rieger gives details was 
321 looms per mill. 1 

The small cotton mills persist because of the lower scale of 
remuneration to labor and because of their adaptability to 
the production of special kinds of goods. It is a characteristic 
which is manifested by nearly all the German industries. Small 
cotton mills have been located in country villages to utilize the 
labor there available, and in rural spots where water-power was 
to be had. But even in the larger cities there are small concerns 
which have to rely upon steam power. 

In spinning it is solely the low wages and salaries that make 
possible the continuation of small scale production. But in 
weaving, although the labor factor is of fundamental importance, 
the small weaver has an advantage in that he can execute little 
orders for fabrics of unique design. In a large weaving mill, 
even in Germany, there must be more or less standardization, 
but by the production of novelties and the acceptance of small 
orders the little mill is able to maintain itself. 

For France no satisfactory statistics as to the size of the mills 
are available. The Census does not supply them and there 
is no textile directory which gives the desired details. At the 
present time, I am informed by the Secretary of the Spinners' 
Association, there are about 2,500,000 spindles in the 60 spin- 
ning mills of the "Department du Nord." The average for that 
section, therefore, where the largest mills are located, is about 
41,700 spindles per mill. All these factories are exclusively for 
spinning. 

In the " Region de l'Est " in 1903 the average number of 
spindles per factory in all mills where cotton was spun was 
32,40c 2 They were distributed as follows: — fourteen mills 
with less than 10,000 spindles each; twenty-eight 10,000 to 
30,000 spindles each; sixteen 30,000 to 50,000 spindles each; 
seven 50,000 to 90,000 spindles each; and three over 90,000 

1 The room and power system appears in several districts at the present time. 
a Enquete sur VEtat de VIndustrie Textile, vol. iv, p. 270. 



PLANT; SCALE OF PRODUCTION; SPECIALIZATION 325 

spindles each. In the Rouen district there are seventy spinning 
mills and the average size is 20,000 spindles each. 1 

The factory system did not predominate in the French weaving 
industry till after 1880, and the domestic system is hardly 
extinct at the present time. In the district around Amiens 
about two thousand hand loom weavers are still employed in 
their homes for weaving Utrecht velvet, a fabric containing both 
cotton and wool. In the Vosges there are about twenty com- 
mission weavers, 2 with little mills where they fill orders received 
from the larger manufacturers. The cutting of velveteen is 
another important domestic industry at Amiens. About thirty 
merchants in that city purchase velveteen and corduroy and put 
it out to be cut. 

The size of the weaving mills in France is probably not much 
greater than in Germany. In the " Region de l'Est " in 1903 3 
fourteen cotton mills had not over 100 looms each; forty-seven 
100 to 300 looms each; thirty-six 300 to 600 looms each; eleven 
600 to 900 looms each; and twelve over 900 looms each. Since 
that date the average size has become somewhat greater. The 
largest factory in that section, it may be added, has at the present 
time 155,600 spindles and 2,838 looms. In the Rouen district 
there are sixty weaving mills, which average 400 looms per 
establishment. 4 

The sixty-eight spinning companies in Switzerland average 
22,000 spindles each; the fifty- three gray cloth weaving com- 
panies 320 looms each; and the thirty colored cloth weaving 
companies 200 looms each. 5 The typical Swiss mill has 30,000 
spindles, the smallest 6,000, the largest 100,000 spindles. 6 Hand 
loom weaving in the homes is still important in Switzerland. 7 
Small establishments are not uncommon, finally, in Italy and 

1 U. S. Daily Consular Reports, October 27, 1911, p. 478. 

2 A very small number of commission weavers are to be found in England. 

3 P. Mairet, La Crise de V Industrie Cotonniere, p. 33. 

4 U. S. Daily Consular Reports, October 27, 191 1, p. 479. 

5 S. L. Besso, Cotton Industry in Switzerland and Italy, p. 4. This is not the 
average per factory, since several companies own two or more mills. 

6 Ibid., p. 13. 

7 Ibid., p. 40. 



326 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Bohemia, 1 and in Belgium in 1905 over one-fourth of the persons 
employed in the weaving of cotton cloth worked at home. 2 

In all the branches of cotton manufacturing the United 
States stands in the forefront so far as large scale production 
is concerned. The pressure to reduce the labor cost, the stimulus 
which has resulted from a high wage level, has necessitated 
these improvements in organization. This difference in the size 
of the establishments is of significance in determining the rela- 
tive strength of the industry in the various countries and the 
ability to meet foreign competition. There may be more 
chance for the countries now backward to improve their organ- 
ization and thus use their other resources to greater advantage. 
But at the present time the country which has the more highly 
developed organization realizes economies that appreciably 
affect the comparative costs of manufacturing cotton. 

Specialization 

Specialization in the manufacture of cotton has made greater 
progress in England than in any other country. The first 
striking contrast is the separation of spinning and weaving. 
In the table previously given 3 it is shown that, in 191 1, 595 
Lancashire 4 mills were engaged in spinning only and contained 
79.5 per cent of the spindles; 859 mills, secondly, were for 
weaving only and in them were located 66.3 per cent of all the 
looms. Thus only 20.5 per cent of the spindles and 33.7 per 
cent of the looms were located in mills where cotton was both 
spun and woven. 

The separation of spinning and weaving facilitates a narrower 
specialization in the former branch. Scores of factories have 
only mule spindles and at least forty spin only ring yarn. 
Numerous English mills spin as many counts as the average 
American mill. Others confine themselves to a narrow range, 

1 W. A. G. Clark, Cotton Fabrics in Middle Europe, p. 125. 

2 La Belgique, 1830-IQ05, pp. 600-601. 

3 See ante, p. 321. 

4 Lancashire is here used in the sense of the Lancashire district, including the 
adjoining parts of Cheshire and Derbyshire. 



PLANT; SCALE OF PRODUCTION; SPECIALIZATION 327 

such as 30's to 42's, or 50's to 70's. A smaller number have a 
still more limited scope, producing only 36's, 42's weft, or some 
other single number. In all the English spinning mills the ma- 
chines are changed from one count to another less frequently 
than in the factories of other countries. An English weaving 
mill, on the contrary, produces as great a variety of fabrics as 
are turned out by any of the American mills. 1 In fact it is 
doubtful if any of the former are so highly specialized as some 
of the Fall River print cloth mills or southern mills which 
manufacture goods for the export trade. 

The separation of spinning and weaving in Lancashire is 
made possible by the dense localization of the industry and 
encouraged by the economies of management which can be 
realized. The nature of the market, however, is the funda- 
mental factor, since the economies in manufacturing are at least 
partially counterbalanced by the costs of selling the yarn. 
England exports large quantities of yarn; hence the spinner 
sells indifferently to domestic or foreign customers and therefore 
has more freedom than if dependent on the former alone. The 
broad market for standard products steadies the demand, and 
thereby enables a spinner to restrict his production to a few 
counts. The English cloth manufacturers rely upon the foreign 
outlet to an even greater extent. But the multiplicity of finishes 
and designs renders the cloth market less uniform, less standard- 
ized, and to a certain degree less stable than the yarn market. 
The demand for cloth is so varied, and the English manufacturers 
cater to orders from so many diverse sources that the majority 
use a larger number of counts of yarn than could economically 
be spun in a single mill. 

The combined spinning and weaving companies operate both 
spindles and looms either because of their organization prior 
to the opening of the period of high specialization or because 
of the nature of their product. The producers of goods which 
bear renowned trade marks, such as Dacca calicoes or Hor- 
rockses' sheetings, and several firms which are interested pri- 

1 A Burnley mill of 2,300 looms, for example, had in its storehouse in 1910 
about 20,000 harnesses for a great variety of patterns. 



328 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

marily in the home trade insure the maintenance of quality by 
spinning the yarn which they weave. 

Doubling is another process which is more or less specialized 
in England. As far as could be ascertained from the 191 1 
textile directory for the Lancashire district, doubling spindles 
were located in sixty-nine spinning mills, twenty-three spinning- 
weaving mills, a half dozen weaving mills, and in ninety-two 
independent doubling mills. The demand for doubled yarn 
requires many counts, and shifts from one to another. The 
doubler who purchases yarn or doubles on commission can 
accept any order, but the spinner-doubler ordinarily accepts 
orders only for those counts which he spins. The volume of 
trade is sufficiently great to warrant the establishment of the 
independent doubling plants, which are more easily adjusted 
to fluctuating requirements. In addition to these mills, there 
were also five sizers, and fourteen beamers, reelers, or winders, 
who were independent of other establishments. 

In England printing, dyeing, and bleaching are seldom united 
with spinning or weaving. A few manufacturers bleach, dye, 
or print their cloth, and some of the colored goods makers dye 
the yarn which they use. But the bulk of the converting is in 
the hands of specialists, working on commission. There are also 
special rinishing plants, where the cloth is given its final touches. 

Many of the new designs are brought from Paris, but there 
are special designers in Manchester, and firms whose sole business 
is the engraving of copper rollers for printing. Some calico 
printers rely entirely upon the outside engravers, and all employ 
them for part of their work since the trade is so fluctuating in 
volume that it does not pay a printer to maintain a force of 
engravers large enough to meet the needs of the most pressing 
moments. Jacquard cards are sometimes prepared in the 
Jacquard weaving mills, but other weavers of Jacquard fabrics 
employ the job card-punching firms in Manchester and Maccles- 
field. The cutting of the pile of corduroys and velvets is still 
another special branch, 1 although of minor importance. Finally, 

1 This is likewise done on commission for the most part. — Census of Produc- 
tion, 1907, part iii, p. 20. 



PLANT; SCALE OF PRODUCTION; SPECIALIZATION 329 

the packing of the goods is partly in the hands of professional 
packers in Manchester. This dense network of specialists in 
the Lancashire trade is a development which can hardly be 
matched elsewhere in the industrial world. 

In no respect is the difference between England and Germany 
more marked than in specialization. In 1908, Rieger's list 
showed that 23.7 per cent of the cotton manufacturing firms, 
operating 59.6 per cent of the spindles, were spinners only; 14.6 
per cent, operating 40.4 per cent of the spindles and 39.5 per cent 
of the looms, were both spinners and weavers; and 61.7 per cent, 
operating 60.5 per cent of the looms were weavers only. 1 The 
combination of spinning and weaving was most common in 
Alsace, where 62.5 per cent of the spindles and 68 per cent of the 
looms were in " Spinn-Webereien," in contrast to 46.5 per cent 
of the spindles and 47.5 per cent of the looms in Bavaria, 31 
per cent of the spindles and 38.3 per cent of the looms in the 
Rhein Province and Westphalia, and 9.3 per cent of the spindles 
and 13.5 per cent of the looms in the " Spinn-Webereien " of 
Saxony. Separate spinning mills are supported in Saxony by 
the market for yarn afforded by the knitting industry. And 
the great diversity in the product of the weavers is not favorable 
to a combination of processes. The small colored goods mills 
(Buntwebereien), so numerous in Saxony, use many kinds of 
yarn and consequently it is more economical for them not to 
undertake spinning. 

None of the mills in Germany restrict themselves to a narrow 
field. One Alsatian mill, for example, spins from 8's to 200's; 
another mill, in a different section, from 20's to 200's; and the 
majority from 6's to 32's, 4's to 44's, 8's to 38's, or a similar 
range. 2 The weaving mills operate between limits equally 
broad. 

1 This proportion of combined spinning and weaving mills has increased since 
1875, when 98 per cent of the spindles and looms were in establishments in which 
only a single branch was carried on. — K. Kuntze, " Die Baumwollindustrie," Haud- 
buch der Wirtschaftskunde Deutschlands , vol. iii, pp. 583, 585. 

2 W. Rieger, Verzeichnis. 6's to 32's, for example, is a wide range in comparison 
with the English practice although at first thought it seems narrow. It includes 
both coarse and medium counts. 



330 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Doubling is more rarely separated from spinning in Germany 
than in England. In 1909 seventy-nine per cent of the doubling 
spindles were in spinning mills. 1 A few weaving mills have their 
own doubling equipment, but their spindles constitute only a 
small percentage of the total. 

Converting is principally in the hands of independent works 
in Germany. There is one mill in M. Gladbach which spins, 
weaves, and prints, another in Reutlingen, three in Miilhausen, 
and a few elsewhere. In a small number weaving and convert- 
ing are united. The large colored goods mills (Buntwebereien), 
as in America, ordinarily have their own dye-houses. But the 
greater part of the yarn and cloth is dyed, printed, or bleached 
in separate establishments. 

There are specialists for the minor details in Germany, also, 
but they are relatively less numerous than in England. Four 
engraving firms in Miilhausen prepare all of the rollers for the 
Alsatian print works. Elsewhere in Germany there are occasional 
engraving firms, but the printers generally have their own 
engraving department. Other specialists are comparatively 
unimportant. 

In the north of France spinning and weaving are completely 
divorced, since the district is primarily a spinning centre. In 
the Vosges nearly one hundred small weaving mills are to be 
found, and about twenty mills which are confined to spinning. 
Yet combined spinning and weaving mills are twice as numerous 
as the " pure " spinning mills. In Normandy, although the 
combined concerns are the largest, a majority of the spindles 
are in " pure " spinning mills. 

The range of counts is as wide in a French factory as in a 
German mill. Thq bulk of the doubling spindles are in spinning 
mills, and there are probably not more than a dozen independent 
doublers in France, Little French cloth, finally, is converted 
in the mill where woven. 

Designing, identified with Paris, is a French specialty of great 
renown. Artist designers are numerous in Paris, and with them 

1 Verzeichnis der Baumwoll-S pinner eien in Deutschland, etc., Bremer Baumwoll- 
Borse, 1909. 



PLANT; SCALE OF PRODUCTION; SPECIALIZATION 33 1 

originate the greater part of the new designs employed by cotton 
manufacturers in Europe and America. Their preeminence, of 
long duration, is to be attributed to the artistic nature of the 
French * and the environment in which the designers work. 
In other countries schools of design have been established; yet 
none of their products rival the Parisian. French designers 
have been transplanted, to Manchester for example, but their 
creative aptitude languished in the foreign environment. The 
foreigners are still tributary to the Parisian designers. 

The statements of the conditions in Germany and France 
indicate, in a general way, the contrast between the English and 
Continental organization. 

European mills accept smaller orders than our American 
manufacturers. The contrast in this respect is greatest in the 
orders for converted fabrics and goods of complex design. In 
England a manufacturer seldom accepts an order for fancy 
striped goods of less than 4,000 yards, but an order for 500 yards 
is occasionally placed. The rate charged for dyeing and print- 
ing diminishes as the size of the order increases, but lots of no 
and 150 yards are frequently dyed. The printers will accept 
orders for 300 yards or less if the customer is willing to pay the 
extra cost, but 10,000 yards is generally the minimum. 

The German weaver of fancy colored goods will accept an 
order of 200 yards, and some printers will set up their machines 
for an order of 40 yards if a profitable customer requests it. 
For such tiny orders, however, an extra charge is levied, and the 
minimum order is generally 400 to 600 yards. Here are some 
orders, for illustration, taken from the books of a company 
which specializes in fancy prints. One order was for 1,200 yards 
of a six-color design printed with six variations of color effects; 
another for 1 ,000 yards of an eight-color design with five varia- 
tions; and a third for 28,000 yards of a two-color design with 
two different color effects. The more elaborate patterns are 
usually printed in smaller lots, on fine cloth. They can bear 

1 This artistic nature must be considered a national characteristic, and as such 
could be accounted for only by a prolonged study of the history of the French 
, people. 



332 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

a higher charge, but under American conditions the extra cost 
would be prohibitive. American manufacturers economize 
in large scale production by distributing their indirect costs 
over a big product. The greater standardization of product 
and the larger orders involve less frequent changes of gearing 
and fewer readjustments of the machines. 

The English are supreme in two lines, the coarsest goods and 
the finest. As competition has become more severe, the English 
cotton manufacturers have proceeded to produce finer and finer 
yarns and cloth. In that way they have utilized their advan- 
tages in climate and skilled labor. They have also built up a 
large export trade in heavily sized goods, which find a market in 
Asia and, to a less extent, in Africa and South America, where 
there is a demand for cheap cloth of low quality. They have 
sought to satisfy the tastes of the wealthy Europeans and Ameri- 
cans by improving the quality of their product, and to meet the 
demands of the Asiatic of small means by lowering the quality. 
At the same time their trade in the goods of ordinary grade has 
not declined. The German manufacturers produce goods which 
are, for the most part, of coarse and medium grade. Their lower 
wages and small mills have given them an advantage in novelties 
and imitation fabrics. The French manufacturers turn out 
more fine goods than are produced in any other Continental 
country, yet coarse and medium grades are predominant. Else- 
where on the Continent the product consists mainly of coarse 
fabrics. In brief, the English are the leaders of the cotton 
manufacturing world in specialization, particularly in spinning, 
but the American manufacturers excel in large scale production 
and standardization. 

Specialization has been made possible in England by the 
very growth of the industry and its concentration. Nevertheless 
specialization reacts and fosters further expansion. Although 
an acquired and not a natural characteristic, it is none the less 
potent in strengthening the English manufacturers' hold upon 
foreign markets. 



CHAPTER XIX 

COMBINATIONS 

Just as there are associations and combinations of various 
sorts in the American cotton manufacturing industry, similarly 
in Europe the manufacturers have found it expedient to har- 
monize their efforts for certain purposes. With the rise of labor 
unions among the English cotton mill operatives in the 'fifties 
and subsequent years, there was a corresponding development of 
masters' associations. At first these associations were local in 
scope, but they were eventually united to form large federations. 

One of the earliest federations was the United Cotton Spin- 
ners' Association, which in 1892 became the Federation of 
Master Cotton Spinners' Associations. 1 At that date its member- 
ship included firms in seven districts, owning 16,896,486 spindles, 
while sixteen years later, in 1907, its members owned 33,000,000 
spindles in twelve districts and in 19 10 controlled 40,000,000 
spindles. The old association was one of individual members, 
its successor a federation of local associations. The function 
of this association is to promote the interests of the trade in 
general and to secure united action in labor disputes. Unlike 
its predecessor, the federation takes cognizance of labor troubles, 
and is a party to the Brooklands Agreement. It is also active 
in other directions, such as the leading of the short time move- 
ment during the speculations of 1904, and again in 1910. 

The North and North-East Lancashire Cotton Spinners' 
and Manufacturers' Association, formed in 1872, is a federation 
of the local associations of employers in Blackburn, Preston, 
and Burnley. 2 In 1894 about two- thirds of the employers in 

1 Report of 4th International Congress of Master Cotton Spinners' and Manu- 
facturers' Associations, held at Vienna, 1907, pp. 190-192. This report is referred 
to in the following pages as the Report of Vienna Congress, and the report of the 
meeting at Milan in 1909 as the Report of Milan Congress. 

2 British Parliamentary Papers, Drage Labor Commission, Final Report, 1894, 
p. 251. 

333 



334 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

those districts were affiliated, and the proportion has since then 
been increased. Its prime object is to counterbalance the power 
of the labor unions. The spinners' and the manufacturers' 
(weavers') associations do not cooperate, but act independently. 1 

In England there are no associations which correspond to 
the National Association of Cotton Manufacturers in the United 
States. But the English employers necessarily have stronger 
organizations for negotiating with the powerful labor unions, 
the thorough-going organization of both sides insuring the 
maintenance of wage agreements and lists. The Arkwright 
Club has no counterpart in England, although some of its func- 
tions are performed by the various organizations in that country. 

A unique but important society in England is the British 
Cotton Growing Association, which was organized in 1902 for 
the purpose of promoting the cultivation of cotton in the British 
colonies wherever suitable conditions could be found. The 
undertaking was initiated mainly because of the rising prices 
of cotton, and by this means the English cotton manufacturers 
hoped to relieve themselves from almost absolute dependency 
upon the supply of raw cotton from the United States. The 
sufferings of the cotton famine during the American Civil War 
have been recalled to emphasize the dangers of dependence 
upon a single source of supply. Another stimulus has been the 
spirit of imperial federation, the desire to bring into closer 
touch with each other the different parts of the British Empire. 
The greater significance of the cotton growing association, 
however, lies in the diversity of the sources whence support 
has been given. It is a united attempt by all interested parties, 
the spinners, weavers, and finishers, the laborers, and the mer- 
chants, to safeguard the welfare of the industry, thus recognizing 
the interdependence of the various interests. 

In Germany, also, we find a series of associations. The 
Verein Siiddeutscher Baumwoll-Industrieller was formed in 
1867. "Its sphere covers the whole of South Germany, with 
the exception of Alsace Lorraine; it includes Bavaria, with the 
Rhine Palatine, Wurttemberg, Baden, and Hohenzollern. 

1 Report of Vienna Congress, p. 194. 



COMBINATIONS 335 

Ninety-four firms are members of the association (1907), of 
which forty-one belong to Bavaria, thirty-eight to Wurttem- 
berg, and nineteen to Baden." l Of these ninety-four firms, 
thirty-one were spinning mills, thirty-three spinning and weaving 
mills, twenty-one weaving mills, four doubling and sewing 
cotton establishments, three bleacheries and print works, one 
wadding manufacturing establishment, and one establishment 
making paper tubes. In 1906 the members operated 2,644,562 
spindles and 45,595 looms, and employed 50,000 persons. " The 
object of the association," to quote once more from the report 
of the Fourth International Congress of Master Cotton Spinners' 
and Weavers' Associations, "is the safeguarding of the economic 
interests of the cotton industry of South Germany. The prin- 
cipal activity of the Association extends to the German tariff 
and commercial policies in general. The Association acts both 
independently and conjointly with other associations, such as 
the German Master Cotton Spinners' Association, and the 
Central Federation of German Industries." 2 

A similar organization is Die Vereinigung Sachischer Spin- 
nerei-Besitzer of Chemnitz. 3 This association was formed in 
1836 and incorporated in 1896. Its fifty-five members in 1907 
controlled 1,582,200 spindles including doubling spindles. Until 
1899, membership was confined to firms which carried on both 
spinning and weaving, but at that date membership was opened 
to cotton spinners and doublers in Saxony. Two years later, 
two spinning mills in Saxony, two in Silesia, one in Austria, 
and the Association of Union Spinners in Crimmitschau were 
affiliated. Its purpose is similar to that of the South German 
Association. In addition, for the information of its members, 
it compiles monthly statistics of stocks on hand, orders, and 
production, and by an arrangement with the spinners' associa- 
tion of Rhineland and Westphalia, the two associations exchange 
reports. A uniform set of instructions for mill workers has 
been introduced, uniform conditions of payment established, 
and united action in labor disputes secured. 

1 Report of Vienna Congress, p. 195. 2 Ibid., p. 196. 

3 Ibid., p. 200. 



336 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Another of these organizations is the Verband Rheinisch- 
Westfalischer Baumwollspinner, 1 which was founded in 1887. 
In 1909 it had sixty-eight members controlling 1,980,910 spindles 
and 10,032 looms. Seventy-one of the one hundred and fifty- 
two members of the Elsass-Lothringisches Industrielles Syndicat 
in 1909 were engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods. 2 

The objects of all of these German associations are very 
similar. At first they were especially interested in influencing 
tariff legislation. More recently they have undertaken to 
promote their common interests by securing greater uniformity 
of contracts, by collecting trade statistics, and by acting together 
in dealing with their employees. Lochmuller summarises the 
significance of these associations when he says 3 that, " The 
fundamental principle of all these combinations has been united 
action in respect to market conditions, the recognition of the 
solidarity of interests." 

In France there are two federations and nine local associa- 
tions. The local associations are Le Syndicat Cotonnier de 
l'Est, Le Syndicat Normand de la Filature de Coton, Le Syndicat 
Normand de la Tissage de Coton, Le Groupe Cotonnier du 
Nord, Le Syndicat Patronal des Industries Textiles de Mont- 
beliard, Le Union de lTndustrie Cotonniere de Roanne, Le 
Syndicat des Industries Textiles de Laval du Department de 
La Mayenne, Le Syndicat des Filateurs et Retordeurs de Coton 
de Lille, and Le Syndicat Picard des Industries Textiles. The 
purposes of these local associations correspond to the objects 
for which the two federations strive. 

L'Union des Syndicats Patronaux des Industries Textiles 
follows labor legislation, 4 but its membership is not confined to 
cotton manufacturers. It is a federation of fifty-six textile 
" Syndicats," comprising (in 1904) 2,224 of the most important 
textile manufacturing establishments in France. 5 

1 Report of Milan Congress, p. 267. 

2 Ibid., p. 263. 

3 W. Lochmuller, Die Baumwoll-industrie in Deutschland, p. 66. 

4 Report of Vienna Congress, p. 212. 

6 Enquete sur VEtat de V Industrie Textile, vol. i, p. 12. 



COMBINATIONS 337 

The other federation is Le Syndicat General de l'lndustrie 
Cotonniere Francaise. It was formed in 1901 at a time of 
depression, and in 1907 included all of the local associations 
except the Syndicat de Roanne. 1 It attempts to promote the 
general interests of the cotton manufacturers, as is shown by 
the following quotation from its report to the Vienna Congress. 
" Its principal departments are statistics of purchases, sales, 
and production, and it proposes the bringing about of an under- 
standing between the different united groups on the subject 
of the claims which the French cotton industry believes itself 
legitimately entitled to put forward to the public authorities, 
especially with respect to custom-house tariffs, commercial 
agreements, and so forth. It is even its duty to invite such 
demands on the part of the affiliated associations or syndicates, 
and to centralize them, in order to succeed in bringing about 
for the benefit of its members a movement which would be all 
the more efficacious through not being scattered." 

In the other European countries in which cotton is manufac- 
tured similar associations exist. In Austria there is the Asso- 
ciation of the Cotton Industry of Austria, the Association of 
Master Cotton Spinners of Austria, the Association of Master 
Cotton Manufacturers of Austria, and the Association of Master 
Calico Printers of Austria. 2 In Italy the Cotton Manufac- 
turers' Association, founded in 1894, now includes practically 
all of the cotton manufacturers in the kingdom. 3 In Switzer- 
land the Master Cotton Spinners', Doublers', and Weavers' 
Association had in 1906 one hundred and nineteen members, 
who employed 1,467,752 spindles and 18,259 looms. 4 In Bel- 
gium there is the Belgian Master Cotton Spinners' Association. 5 
Throughout these associations a similarity of purpose is found. 

Not only have local associations and national federations 
arisen in all the cotton manufacturing countries of the western 
world, but in 1904 an international association was formed. 6 
The immediate cause of its formation was the depression result- 

1 Report of Vienna Congress, p. 241. 4 Ibid., p. 222. 

2 Ibid., p. 216. 6 Ibid., p. 222. 

3 Ibid., p. 221. 6 Ibid., p. 193. 



338 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

ing from the speculative dealings and the attempted corner of 
the cotton market in that year. Looked at from a broader 
point of view, it was a recognition of the interdependence of 
cotton manufacturing interests in all parts of the world. Meet- 
ings have been held annually, and the association has steadily 
increased in strength. Among other things, it has sought to 
encourage the widening of the cotton producing area in countries 
other than the United States. 1 It has discussed uniform cotton, 
yarn, and cloth contracts, has undertaken to bring about im- 
provements in the baling and shipping of American cotton, and, 
perhaps most important of all, has compiled statistics of the 
quantity of cotton in the hands of spinners, the annual consump- 
tion of cotton, and the increase in the number of spindles. These 
statistics have been based upon returns from the members of 
the association in the different countries, and have been confi- 
dential. From them the spinners could judge to better advan- 
tage the probable demand and supply when the crop reports 
of the United States Census and of the financial papers were 
issued. They could thus to some extent guard against specula- 
tive manipulations of the price of their raw material. 

The International Federation has been active in the pro- 
motion of an international " short- time " policy. Because of 
the rapid augmentation of the world's spindleage, particularly 
in England, from 1900 to 1907, the manufacturing capacity 
temporarily outstripped the supply of raw material. To the 
depressing influence of this maladjustment were added the 
effects of general business inactivity and two successive short 
crops of cotton. It was this last factor which most affected the 
cotton manufacturing industry. The recent improvements in 
technique would very likely have permitted a sufficient reduction 
in the price of cloth to enable the manufacturers to find an ade- 

1 For decades efforts have been exerted in this direction. At the present time 
there are many optimists in Europe who believe that they are about to realize their 
hopes. Mention should also be made of the experiments with other fibres which 
might be substituted for cotton. The most promising of these is kapok, a fibre 
growing wild in Africa and South America. Herr Stark of Chemnitz, Germany, 
has recently patented a process for manufacturing cloth from kapok. The fabric 
is somewhat harder than cotton and takes a brilliant shade when dyed. 



COMBINATIONS 339 

quate market for their product, had the raw cotton supply been 
larger. The problem which has arisen from this source has been 
one of excess capacity rather than overproduction. Neverthe- 
less it had to be met in the same way, by operating the mills at 
less than full speed, and the International Federation has en- 
couraged that policy. 

Suggestions concerning the restriction in output may be 
observed in years of crop shortage, but when it comes to a restric- 
tion of mill building, the root of .the difficulty, it is doubtful if 
the Federation has great influence. Under present conditions 
an agreement to be truly effective over a period of years seems 
to be impossible of realization. The Federation, by means of 
an educative policy, can merely indicate the danger involved 
in reckless mill building. Nevertheless this international 
association, although it has not gained wide support in the 
United States, is a beginning of united action among the cotton 
manufacturers in different countries. 

Amalgamations 

The amalgamations which have been formed in the English 
cotton manufacturing industry are, — J. & P. Coats, the English 
Sewing Cotton Company, the Fine Cotton Spinners' and Doub- 
lers' Association, the Bleachers' Association, the Calico Printers' 
Association, and the British Cotton and Wool Dyers' Associa- 
tion. 1 

The Coats firm was founded early in the nineteenth century. 2 
From small beginnings its business steadily expanded, and in 
1890 the company of J. & P. Coats was incorporated. In 1895 
the firm of Kerr & Co., of Paisley, was bought up, and in 1896, 
its chief rivals, Clarke & Co., of Paisley, James Chadwick & Co., 
of Bolton, and Jonas Brook & Co., of Meltham, amalgamated 
with the Coats company. These four firms had previously 
acted together through a central agency which marketed all their 

1 The amalgamations in the English cotton industry have been described at 
length by H. W. Macrosty in his Trust Movement in British Industry. On that 
authority many of the following statements are based. 

2 H. W. Macrosty, Trust Movement in British Industry, pp. 126, 127. 



340 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

products, but a closer organization was desired; hence the amal- 
gamation. At the time of combination the properties owned 
by the constituent members included sixteen factories and six 
branches. Among the factories were mills in the United States, 
Canada, and Russia. Since that time mills have also been built 
in other European countries, 1 a coal mine purchased, and large 
blocks of stock in other companies acquired. Their holdings 
of stock are especially large in the Fine Cotton Spinners' and 
Doubters' Association, and in the English Sewing Cotton Com- 
pany. Their interest in the former gave them control over 
their yarn supply, and their interest in the latter secured the 
cooperation of a competitor. 

The Coats company was conservatively capitalized, and 
has been carefully organized and well managed. The Central 
Thread Agency, which had existed before the amalgamation, 
continued to sell the products, and thus effect economies in 
marketing. The investments in other concerns have paid 
well. In fact a member of the firm stated in 1899 that " by 
far the larger part of the company's profits was derived from 
shares in foreign manufacturing companies, and not from mills 
in the United Kingdom." 2 Thus they had taken advantage of 
the protective tariffs in foreign countries. The company has 
accumulated a large reserve, improved its equipment, and in 
the twelve years ending in 1908, had averaged an annual dividend 
on its ordinary shares of twenty-seven per cent. The London 
Economist said of this company in 1907, "As it is the foremost 
of industrial companies in the country, so it is one of the best 
managed. The policy of the directors has always been conser- 
vative in the extreme, in the way of building up large reserves 
against all possible contingencies, and in keeping machinery 
and so forth thoroughly efficient and well up to modern require- 
ments." 3 

Closely connected with the Coats combination and a direct 
result of its successful formation is the English Sewing Cotton 

1 Economist, November, 1908, p. 926. 

2 Quoted by Macrosty, op. cit., p. 128. 

3 Economist, November 2, 1907, p. 1865. 



COMBINATIONS 341 

Company, 1 After the largest firms in the cotton thread industry 
had been amalgamated by Coats, about twenty concerns were 
left in the field. In 1897 fourteen of these combined to form the 
English Sewing Cotton Company. Later two more firms were 
added. The combination was not a complete amalgamation 
as each of the constituents retained part of its independence, 
the management not being entirely concentrated in the central 
company. The company was badly organized, poorly managed, 
and heavily overcapitalized. In order to secure better results 
the management was reorganized in 1902, with more centralized 
authority, and in 1904 three of the constituent firms were sold. 
The English Sewing Cotton Company has never paid nearly 
as high dividends as the Coats Company, although it has received 
large returns on its investment in the American Thread Company. 

From the first the Coats company took an interest in the 
English Sewing Cotton Company and held 200,000 of the ordi- 
nary shares. After the formation of the American Thread 
Company in 1898, under the auspices of the English Sewing 
Cotton Company, the three combinations with allied interests 
dominated the world's market for sewing cotton. Friction 
arose, however, between the two English combinations over 
their respective rights, and for the sake of harmony the English 
Sewing Cotton Company converted a mill which it owned in 
Spain into a plant to spin yarn for piece goods, and in 1900 trans- 
ferred its foreign sales business to the Central Thread Agency, 
which, it will be recalled, is a Coats subsidiary company. Later 
the English Sewing Cotton Company turned over the selling 
of its domestic product to the Central Thread Agency. Thus, 
through inter-holdings of stock, agreements, and this central 
selling office, the English sewing cotton business is monopolized, 
and the world's trade in this product controlled. 

The success of the Coats amalgamation also encouraged the 
formation of the Fine Cotton Spinners' and Doublers' Associa- 
tion. This was a combination, formed in 1898, of thirty-one 
firms 2 engaged in spinning Sea Island Cotton and producing the 

1 H. W. Macrosty, op. cit., pp. 129-133. 

2 Ibid., pp. 137-140. 



342 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

finest yarn in England. Within the next three years ten more 
British firms were absorbed, and a controlling interest was 
secured in their chief French competitor. A colliery also was 
purchased in 1900, and in 191 1 an American plantation, where 
they could grow extra stapled cotton, was acquired. 1 Although 
the combination has a monopoly in the spinning of Sea Island 
cotton, it has to meet the competition of the spinners of Egyptian 
cotton. Its chief advantage lies in the ownership of certain 
brands or trade marks of fine cotton yarns, with long established 
reputation, a very important factor in the fine yarn market. 
The association was well organized and has been well managed. 
Consequently it has paid good dividends. 

Previous to 1900 voluntary associations had existed among the 
bleachers for the regulation of prices. But with hopes of securing 
a monopoly, fifty-three firms engaged in this business were com- 
bined to form the Bleachers' Association. 2 Five more firms 
were later added. In 19 10 about sixty-five per cent of the 
Lancashire bleaching trade, measured both by number of firms 
and by quantity of output, was in the hands of the association. 
Each member continued to manage his own business, but subject 
to the central office in the regulation of charges and expendi- 
tures. The combination has had an advantage in that it con- 
trolled a large part of the available water supply, an asset so 
important in bleaching. But too much water was put into the 
stock; the association was overcapitalized. 

Of all the amalgamations in the English cotton industry, the 
Calico Printers' Association, organized in 1899, 3 has been the 
least successful. The participants were influenced more by the 
mania for combination than by a careful consideration of the 
obstacles to be encountered. At the outset it was made up of 
forty-six print works and thirteen merchant firms, to which 
were later added five printing plants, a merchant house, a finish- 
ing plant, a colliery, and a large establishment in France. Fif- 

1 This extreme integration is warranted only by the recurring difficulties in 
securing the requisite supplies of long stapled cotton for spinning super-fine yarns. 

2 H. W. Macrosty, op. cit., pp. 141-144. 

3 Ibid., pp. 144-153- 



COMBINATIONS 343 

teen small plants have been closed. The system of organiza- 
tion was very inadequate. At first the plants were not special- 
ized and continued to compete with each other. Lack of cen- 
tralized authority was also displayed in such matters as the 
duplication of purchasing departments. These faults were 
partially remedied by the reorganizations of 1902 and 1907, but 
it is said that the various departments are not yet sufficiently 
in touch with each other. Another drawback has been the 
combination of commission and independent printing, i. e. the 
printing of cloth for others and at the same time for themselves. 
Merchants have naturally preferred to have their cloth printed, 
as far as possible, by concerns which did only a commission 
business, rather than by the combination which was also a com- 
petitor in the market for prints. The combination in 1907 even 
extended its business to weaving, 1 to supply its own gray cloth, 
but the financial depression gave at least a temporary check to 
this venture. 

While at the time of its formation the Printers' Association 
controlled eighty-five per cent of the printing trade, now, as a 
result of the closing of some of its works, its price policy, and the 
preference shown to independents by the merchants, its propor- 
tionate share is only about fifty per cent. Finally, in addition 
to the other difficulties, the capitalization was excessive, several 
plants having been purchased at valuations far above their 
market rate. As might have been expected, the financial 
results have not been satisfactory. 

The last combination of this type is the British Cotton and 
Wool Dyers' Association, 2 which represents the amalgamation 
of forty-six firms. Since its formation in 1900, six more firms 
have been absorbed, and thirteen of its small plants closed. 
This association cooperates with the Bradford Dyers' Associa- 
tion (wool), and together they control eighty-five per cent of the 
trade in the two branches of the industry. The British Cotton 
and Wool Dyers' Association is overcapitalized and has not 
been successful financially. Its members are widely scattered 

1 Economist, Sept. 21, 1907, p. 1582. 

2 H. W. Macrosty, op. cit., pp. 163-168. 



344 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

and from the outset many of them have been weak. The com- 
bination has practically a monopoly of mercerizing, and has an 
agreement with the Fine Spinners' Association whereby it does 
all their mercerizing work. But as with several of the other 
combinations, little benefit has accrued from what amounts to 
an increase in the scale of production. 

In Great Britain, as in the United States, the amalgamations 
in the cotton manufacturing industry have been confined to 
special branches, and have not affected the ordinary spinning 
and weaving trade. As Macrosty has said, " It is in the deriva- 
tive and not in the primary industries that we find combination 
attempted." 1 These English combinations were formed at 
about the same time as those in the American cotton manufac- 
turing industry. With the exception of the Coats concern and 
the Fine Cotton Spinners' and Doublers' Association, there 
have been occasional reorganizations. As a rule, neither appre- 
ciable economies nor effective monopoly have been realized. 
This is similar to the experience of the duck and yarn combina- 
tions in the United States. The small units were fairly well 
managed, and in the case of the English combinations in the 
finishing processes it was found difficult to organize them effec- 
tively on the large scale demanded by their extent. A loose 
association of separate concerns secured as good results and 
avoided many of the difficulties. The necessity of including 
weak firms in a merger of these extensive trades impaired the 
efficiency of the combinations, and the overcapitalization is a 
burden which may yet prove too heavy. These experiences 
emphasize the difficulties which would attend any attempt at 
wholesale amalgamation of the spinning or weaving business 
in the English or American cotton manufacturing industry. 

There have been sporadic instances of integration in the 
English cotton industry, but chiefly in connection with amal- 
gamations. The most prominent are the Central Thread 
Agency of the thread combination, the inclusion of merchants 
in the Calico Printers' Association, and the acquisition of col- 
lieries by Coats, the Fine Cotton Spinners, and the Calico 

1 H. W. Macrosty, op. cit., p. 121. 



COMBINATIONS 345 

Printers. Rylands & Sons combine spinning, weaving, bleaching, 
dyeing, and finishing with the manufacture of clothing, corsets, 
oil cloth, etc., and carry on a large foreign and domestic whole- 
sale trade. But that is a unique concern, and, taking the 
English industry as a whole, the movement has, up to the 
present time, been toward specialization rather than integration. 
In the Continental countries, where a relatively smaller scale 
of production predominates, the associations meet all the needs 
of the situation. Through them the manufacturers can secure 
whatever harmony of action is necessary. When the units 
are comparatively small and widely scattered, competition 
does not reach the combining stage. 



CHAPTER XX 

KNIT GOODS 

General Comparison 

Although England is the original home of machine knitting, 
the English knit-goods industry is of smaller dimensions than the 
American. About one-half as many persons are employed in 
this industry in England and the value of the product, so far 
as census figures can be trusted, is much less than half. The 
value of the knit goods manufactured in the United Kingdom 
was stated at the Census of 1907 as follows: — 

Knit Goods Manufactured in United Kingdom 

Hose and half-hose £4,326,000 

Underwear 2,672,000 

Sweaters, shawls, &c 869,000 

Gloves 256,000 

Other 250,000 

Total £8,373,000 ($40,776,000) 

The product of the American knitting mills in 1905, it will be 
remembered, was valued at $136,500,000, or over three times as 
high as that of England. One would naturally expect English 
prices to be lower and the product more nearly equal to the 
American output in quantity than value, yet our only test of 
the quantity relation does not support such a view. 14,167,000 
dozen pairs of hose and half-hose, valued at approximately 
$21,000,000, were manufactured in the United Kingdom, and 
44,144,000 dozen pairs, valued at $43,591,000, in the United 
States. Hence the average value per pair was actually fifty 
per cent less in America. Allowing for all discrepancies and 
inaccuracies, it seems indisputable that the American industry 
is much the larger. The German knitting industry is probably 
of greater magnitude x than the English, but, so far as one can 

1 Until the complete report of the German industrial census of 1907 is published 
it is not possible to secure data more recent than the antiquated statistics of 1895. 

346 



KNIT GOODS 347 

judge, does not surpass the American in volume. France * 
and the other continental countries are secondary to Germany 
in knit-goods production. 

The knitting industry is less localized in America than in 
England. Nearly all of the English knitting mills are in the 
neighborhood of Nottingham and Leicester, cotton predominat- 
ing in the former and woolen in the latter. Lee, the inventor 
of the knitting frame dwelt in this district, and here the industry 
has been concentrated from the outset. 

Knit goods are manufactured in many parts of Germany, 
but Chemnitz, in Saxony, over-shadows all the other centres. 
Chemnitz owes its preeminence to events similar to those which 
brought about the growth of the industry in Philadelphia and 
the Mohawk Valley, and at Nottingham. From the twelfth 
to the eighteenth century Chemnitz 2 was a prosperous textile 
town as the result of market privileges, the bleaching monopoly, 
and the introduction of weaving. The production of knit goods 
in Chemnitz began with the arrival of French Protestant refugees 
in the eighteenth century, but it was not till after Cotton 
frames were brought thither from England about 1870 that 
Chemnitz really commenced to outstrip the other German 
districts. In the successful advance of Chemnitz, entrepreneur 
ability has been a factor of no mean importance. 

The " Department de l'Aube," around Troyes, has the densest 
concentration of the hosiery manufacturing industry in France; 
yet knitting mills are located in numerous other departments. 
In the Vosges at St. Die, for example, knitted underwear is 
produced. The reasons for the geographical distribution are 
acquired advantages and local enterprise, not the favors of nature. 
In general, we may conclude that American knit-goods manufac- 
turers have as great advantage in location as any of their Euro- 
pean competitors. 

1 It is stated that the value of the knit goods manufactured in France is 
$40,000,000 per year — cotton, $25,000,000; woolen, $12,500,000; silk, $2,000,000; 
linen, $500,000. — U. S. Daily Consular Reports, July 25, ion, p. 371. 

2 Festschrift zur jq Hauptversammlung des Vereines Deutscher Ingenieurer, 1898, 
pp. 23-28. 



348 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Although in England a few American circular automatic 
machines have been installed for manufacturing stockings, the 
Cotton (flat-bed) machine predominates. But circular frames 
are more numerous than Cotton frames in the English underwear 
factories. For making up, German, American, and English 
machines are employed. 

In Saxony all types of knitting machines are in operation, 
including the Cotton, Paget, Terrot, and a few American seamless 
machines. In the production of stockings the Cotton frame 
predominates, as in England; but in spite of the adaptability 
of that machine, it is not suited to the manufacturing of the finest 
and most elaborate articles. For that purpose the Paget machine 
or a hand-frame is employed. More underwear is knit upon 
circular frames than upon those of the other types; and the 
fabric for gloves is knit upon machines of special design. The 
making-up machines, finally, are, for the most part, of German 
manufacture but copied from the American inventions. The 
French knitting factories closely resemble the German mills in 
technical equipment and have more or less German and English 
machinery. 

The methods employed in the European knitting industry are 
those requiring relatively more labor. The American machines 
are more automatic and for their operation labor less in quantity 
and of little skill is employed. The American technical equip- 
ment, however, is not inferior. 

Scale of Production 

It was not till after the middle of the nineteenth century 
that the factory system began to be applied in the English 
knit-goods industry. In 1845 ft was stated that knitting was 
" for the most part a domestic branch of industry " having 
" no connection with the factory system. " 1 Again, in 1882, 
Mr. Smith, United States Consul at Nottingham, reported in 
regard to the business of I. & R. Morley, the largest hosiery 
concern in the United Kingdom, that the " greater part of their 
hosiery was made by hand power. Hand workers were employed 

1 Journal of Franklin Institute, 1845, P- 359- 



KNIT GOODS 349 

by them in villages for twenty miles around Nottingham. Many 
of the hand machines were owned by the workers. Those 
machines were often worked on premises which did not belong 
to the parties employing them, largely in private houses occupied 
by the workers. This system prevailed to a large extent through- 
out the hosiery business in Great Britain." l Thus in 1882 
the domestic system seems to have been predominant in the 
manufacture of knit goods in the British Isles. Twelve years 
later, in 1894, the Drage Labor Commission in its final report 
stated that the knit-goods trade was " unfortunately in the hands 
of middlemen, who brought out the work from the warehouses, 
giving the same out to the workmen." 2 Later in the same 
report the statement was made that " the introduction of 
machinery worked by steam power had almost entirely trans- 
formed the hosiery trade from a domestic to a factory industry." 3 
These apparently conflicting statements, however, can be recon- 
ciled. The former refers to the finishing of the goods, the latter 
to knitting. This is shown by the Census of 1901 which com- 
mented on the replacement of the old hand-frames by power 
machines for knitting, but added that most of the goods were 
still finished by hand. 4 

According to the Census of 1907, 44,724 persons were employed 
in English knitting mills, and in addition 4,950 out- workers 
were reported. Of the latter, 543 were men, who were employed 
by the Nottingham manufacturers to knit cotton and lisle hose 
on hand-frames in their homes; there continues to be a demand 
for the elastic product of the hand-frames. The female out- 
workers were engaged in making up the knitted garments. 

The number of knitting establishments (Haupt-Betriebe) in 
Saxony in 1907 was 16,531, employing 59,040 persons. 5 Of 
these establishments, 13,326 were " Allein-Betriebe," in which 
no assistants or wage workers were employed; 2,146 each had 

1 U. S. Consular Reports, 1882, no. 23, p. 77. 

2 Drage Labor Commission, Final Report, 1894, p. 239. 

3 Ibid., p. 243. 

4 British Parliamentary Papers, 1904 (cd. 2174), p. 121. 
6 Statistik des Deutschen Reiches. 



350 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

from two to five employees; 386 six to ten employees; 472 
eleven to fifty employees; 167 fifty-one to two hundred em- 
ployees; and only 34 employed more than two hundred persons. 
Exclusive of the " Allein-Betriebe," the average number of em- 
ployees per establishment was fifteen. 

In the promotion of new factory undertakings in Saxony, 
the machinery manufacturers have been active. Selecting a 
small manufacturer or a workman of promise, the machine- 
builder has often erected and equipped a factory for him, to be 
paid for in easy instalments. The room and power system, 
where several small entrepreneurs share a single building and 
rent space and power from the owners, is also prevalent in the 
Chemnitz district. The small scale manufacturers often accept 
orders from those who have larger factories for small quantities 
of goods of novel design which the latter cannot conveniently 
produce in their own works. 

The putting out, or domestic, system persists in the Saxon 
knit-goods industry, but not to the same extent nor under the 
same form in all branches of the trade. Hose and half-hose are 
ordinarily manufactured in factories, because of the size and cost 
of the Cotton machines. What home work remains is almost 
entirely for making up. In the country villages the stockings 
are frequently given out by the manufacturers to be made up, 
although the entire process is more commonly completed in the 
factory. Some home work has continued, because in this way 
women who would not enter the factories could be employed. 
A single machine suffices for seaming an entire stocking, and no 
elaborate equipment is required by the home workers. The 
sewing machines, it may be added, are usually owned by the 
manufacturer who gives out the goods. 

There are several large underwear factories in the Chemnitz 
district, but every manufacturer employs home workers, some 
having as many employees outside the factory as within. Several 
thousand machines are at work in the homes knitting the web 
for cut underwear. The yarn is supplied by the manufacturer, 
and when the web is finished it is returned to the factory to be 
made up. Many an old woman may be seen in the streets of 



KNIT GOODS 351 

Chemnitz trudging along to a factory with a heavily laden basket 
of underwear upon her back. The knitting of these fabrics 
can be done at home, for the machines are neither complex 
nor expensive and do not require as much power as the Cotton 
frame. The making up, on the other hand, has been taken 
to the factories where a series of specialized machines are used 
and the labor sub-divided. 

The system under which fabric gloves are produced is just 
the reverse of that for underwear. Fashioned gloves are knit 
at home on machines that require a large amount of hand labor, 
but the bulk of the gloves are made from cut fabric. The 
machines for knitting this fabric are heavy and costly, so that 
they are installed in small factories, 1 and the fabric is cut there 
after it has been dyed and finished. Then it is given out by the 
manufacturer to be sewn and decorated. Some of these home 
workers own their sewing machines, but in the majority of 
cases the machines are the property of manufacturers. The 
making up requires but a single machine and the decorating is 
mainly hand work; hence the home industry has continued. A 
larger proportion of the output of gloves than of hosiery is made 
up by home workers, and women living in Leipsic, Dresden, and 
even in Silesia, are engaged in sewing gloves for the Chemnitz 
trade. 

In this Saxon industry the putting out system has become 
subsidiary to the factory. There are a few merchants who 
give out yarn to be knit and who have no workshop of their 
own, but they employ a very small proportion of the home 
workers. The remainder are employed by factory owners. 
In all branches of the knitting industry, to sum up, small estab- 
lishments and the putting out system enable the German manu- 
facturers to accept small orders for special styles and designs, 
whereas the American manufacturers produce large quantities 
of a few patterns. 

Several large knit-goods manufacturers in England produce 
both stockings and underwear, but ordinarily only one or the 

1 Although a few factories employ 200 persons, the normal size is 6 to 20 em- 
ployees. — W. Greif, Die Limbacher Wirkwar en-Industrie, p. 43. 



352 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

other is manufactured by a single concern. In each factory, 
however, cotton, wool, and, perhaps, silk are used. In Saxony, 
hosiery, underwear, and glove manufacturing are separate 
industries; they are seldom united. Cotton, cashmere, lisle, 
and silk goods are made in almost every Saxon factory, 
but each manufacturer ordinarily confines himself to the pro- 
duction of one grade of goods, — coarse, medium, or fine. He 
does not restrict his operations to the knitting of a single kind 
of yarn (cotton, wool, or silk) because of the seasonal character 
of the trade. The same machines can be used for the yarns of 
different fibres, and when the orders for one season have been 
filled, those for the next are taken up. In England and in 
Germany the knit goods are dyed for the manufacturers at 
independent works, not at the mills where they are manufactured. 

Few power machines for knitting were adopted in France 
till after 187 1 - 1 And, although the factory system has developed, 
home work has not entirely vanished. The British Board of 
Trade Report (1909) gives the following data for the French 
knitting industry. 2 In the " Department de l'Aube " 12,630 
persons were employed in 680 mills, an average of 19 persons 
per factory. In Troyes 47 establishments employed less than 
100 persons each, 11 from 100 to 150 persons each, 8 from 150 
to 500 persons, 3 from 500 to 1,000 persons, and one over 1,000 
persons. And it was estimated that one-fifth of the knit goc i 
produced in France were made in. the homes. 

Although some manufacturers employ knitting frames in the 
workers' homes and merchants who have only finishing estab- 
lishments put out yarn to be knit, 3 the home work in France 
is mainly for making up. Hose are made up under the domestic 
system, and in Troyes one sees women carrying home wheel- 
barrow loads of unseamed goods. Some underwear is also 
hand finished by domestic workers, although for that the factory 
is gradually supplanting the putting out system. 

1 Enquete sur VEtat de VIndustrie Textile, vol. v, p. 74; also Ame, Les Tarifs de 
Douanes, vol. i, p. 409. 

2 British Board of Trade, Report on Wages and Cost of Living in France, pp. 355- 
356. 

3 Ibid., p. 356. 



KNIT GOODS 353 

While the scale of production has been growing larger in 
France, recently there has been a revival of small shops, " ateliers 
de famille." These small undertakings are located in the coun- 
try and employ petroleum as the motive power to drive their 
modern machinery. The reason for their development is said 
to be the freedom from factory regulations. Since the factory 
laws do not apply to them, they can run longer hours and thus 
compete with the larger factories. At the same time the work- 
men enjoy a certain amount of independence and freedom 
from factory discipline. 

The equipment of the European factories is generally on a 
par with that of American knitting mills. But the larger size 
of the mills, the operation of machinery at a higher speed, and the 
concentration upon the production of a relatively small number 
of standardized patterns favors the American manufacturers. 



CHAPTER XXI 

RAW COTTON MARKETS 

Our viewpoint changes. Up to this point we have been 
comparing the industrial aspects of the cotton manufacturing 
industries of Europe and America. We shall now consider the 
commercial methods, and commence with the raw cotton market. 

The English spinners procure their cotton through channels 
similar to those by which the raw fibre makes its way into the 
hands of American mill owners. Cotton is shipped to Great 
Britain by three classes .of dealers; (i) by American shippers, 
who consign it to Liverpool merchants; (2) by buyers sent out 
from Liverpool and Manchester houses; or (3) by American 
firms which have a branch office in England. 

The importing merchant does not always deal directly with 
the spinner. In Liverpool, with some exceptions, the importer 
entrusts the disposal of his cotton to a selling broker, and the 
spinner employs a buying broker who assembles samples of the 
required grade to be inspected on the occasion of the weekly 
visit of the spinner to Liverpool. The spinner who purchases 
in this way has one or, at most, two buying brokers with whom 
he regularly deals. The buying broker and the selling broker 
each receive a commission of one-half of one per cent on the value 
of the cotton. In Manchester the importers deal directly with 
the spinners, not as brokers but as merchants. This does not 
apply, of course, to the cotton sold by the agents of Liverpool 
brokers who are present at the Manchester Exchange on market 
days, but only to those firms which have their head offices in 
Manchester. While some of these merchants sell several kinds 
of cotton, others handle only a single quality, such as long staple 
cotton, Memphis cotton, or some other special grade. 

Egyptian cotton is sold in England by the agents of the large 
Alexandria houses. The agents, who sell on commission, are 
located in Manchester and Liverpool and deal directly with the 

354 



RAW COTTON MARKETS 3SS 

mills. There are also Egyptian cotton merchants in Liverpool 
who are independent of the Alexandria companies, but a large 
proportion of the business is handled by the agents. 

At the time of the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal it 
was freely anticipated that Manchester would supersede Liver- 
pool as the chief raw cotton market in Great Britain. For 
several years the imports did increase, but during the last ten 
years they have remained practically stationary, averaging about 
300 million pounds or one-fifth of the total quantity entering the 
country each year. Liverpool has retained its position as the 
chief port of entry in spite of extra freight expense l and higher 
selling charges. Some Lancashire spinners have preferred to 
continue their dealings in Liverpool because of their respect 
for the practice of their ancestors and the pleasure of making 
a weekly visit to that city; at least this is a common opinion 
in Lancashire. Another reason, and a far more substantial 
one, has been that the spinner could exercise a wide choice in 
selecting his cotton from the numerous samples collected by the 
broker. Finally, the brokers themselves have taken a precau- 
tionary step in order to avoid being stranded without customers. 
During the mania for mill building which culminated in 1907, 
Liverpool brokers subscribed to stock in new companies on condi- 
tion that they be granted the exclusive privilege of buying the 
cotton for a period of at least ten years. These influences have 
checked the diversion of the raw cotton trade to Manchester. 

The English spinner buys spot cotton, i. e. for immediate de- 
livery, and also makes contracts for future deliveries of so much 
per month. These contracts for future delivery extend over three, 
six, or even twelve months. The price for spot cotton is fixed 
by current market quotations. But for future deliveries it is 
often arranged that the spinner shall pay a certain number of 
points " on " or " off " the Liverpool quotation at the time he 
receives the cotton or at whatever time he designates. The 
points on or off depend upon the quality of cotton purchased. 
Thus the spinner is sure of obtaining the desired grade of cot- 
ton, but the price which he is to pay will be determined by the 

1 See ante, p. 285. 



356 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

course of the market. The actual payment for the cotton may 
not be made till sixty days after delivery, but at the present 
time ten days is the more common term. 1 If a spinner asks for 
more than sixty days' credit, he is subject to suspicion. 

Unlike the American manufacturer, the English spinner 
rarely accumulates a stock of cotton early in the season. Un- 
less the market be exceptionally favorable, he buys only when 
he has sold the yarn, and few mills have warehouse accommo- 
dations for more than one or two months' consumption. Com- 
modious warehouses are available in Liverpool and Manchester, 
where the cotton may be held pending delivery. Moreover 
the shipments for future delivery are arranged by the merchant 
so as to arrive at about the date they are to be handed over to 
the spinner. 

The Liverpool Exchange, therefore, is not used by the English 
spinner for the purchase of the actual cotton which he is to use. 
He cannot rely upon " contract " cotton any more than the 
New England spinner can supply his needs by means of the con- 
tracts of the New York Exchange. The rules of both exchanges 
permit the delivery on the contracts of cotton of several grades 
(with corresponding adjustment of price), whereas the spinners 
in both countries require even-running lots of a single quality. 

The Liverpool Cotton Exchange was organized after the 
"cotton famine" of the 'sixties, 2 at about the same time as the 
New York Exchange. There had previously been sales for 
future delivery, but not speculation in " futures." The uncer- 
tainty as to the obtaining of supplies of cotton during the Ameri- 
can Civil War and the period immediately following encouraged 
a specialization of risk taking. And the extension of the tele- 
graph system, the laying of the Atlantic Cable, and the improve- 
ments in ocean transportation culminating in the 'seventies 
provided the means of communication so essential to a well- 
organized speculative market. 

1 This refers only to American cotton. The terms for Egyptian cotton are 
usually c. i. f., 3 months. 

2 T. Ellison, in his Cotton Trade of Great Britain and in his Gleanings and 
Reminiscences, presents the details of the development of the Liverpool cotton 
trade and the history of the Exchange. 



RAW COTTON MARKETS 357 

The rules of the Liverpool Exchange * are quite similar to 
those in New York, but more perfectly adapted to securing a 
harmonious movement of spot and future quotations. The 
presence of a larger supply of cotton in Liverpool, because of 
the transhipment trade, also steadies the market and renders 
it more suitable for hedging. 

The contracts of the Liverpool Exchange are extensively 
utilized as a means of insurance against loss in the raw cotton 
trade of Great Britain. Practically all of the cotton imported 
into that country is hedged on either the New York or Liverpool 
Exchange and the banks generally refuse to advance money 
on cotton that is not thus protected. Merchants who accept 
orders before they have secured the cotton cover their obliga- 
tions with Liverpool contracts, which are liquidated as soon as 
the cotton is purchased. The spinners ordinarily place an 
order for cotton at the same time that they accept a contract 
for yarn, and as both prices are fixed they have no occasion to 
hedge. A spinner who buys cotton ahead of yarn orders, a 
rare procedure in England, hedges in Liverpool, but it is the 
importers and merchants who make the greatest use of the 
Liverpool Exchange for hedging. 

Continental spinners formerly obtained large quantities of 
cotton through Liverpool, but the amount has declined. Bremen 
has taken control of the German trade and is the largest raw 
cotton market on the Continent. Some American cotton is 
imported at Hamburg, and a large proportion of the Indian 
cotton arrives at that port. In Eastern and Southern Germany 
small purchases are made from Havre, and in Alsace about one- 
half of the cotton consumed is bought in Havre. But the 
Bremen trade predominates. A cotton exchange, the " Bre- 
mer-Baumwollborse," has been organized in that city. Never- 
theless it is only an association for adjusting contracts and 
regulating transactions, not for organized speculation. 

A few spinners buy part of their material directly in America, 
and the largest spinning company in Germany has its own 
plantation in Africa. Some cotton is consigned to Bremen 

1 C. P. Brooks, Cotton, p. 275, and W. J. Ashley, British Industries, p. 76. 



35$ THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

agents by American shippers and sold by them for a commission 
of three-fourths of one per cent. But the bulk of the cotton is 
handled by Bremen importers and merchants who dispose of 
it through agents located in the manufacturing centres. 

The trade in Indian cotton is in the hands of European mer- 
chants who purchase it from the peasants and factors in India 
and import it into Europe. Three firms ship sixty-six per cent 
of the total quantity exported from India, the remainder being 
divided among a number of smaller shippers. While en route 
or, more often, after the arrival of the cotton in Hamburg or 
Antwerp, notices are sent out by the importers to their agents 
in the manufacturing districts, stating the details and the condi- 
tions under which orders are to be solicited. 

American, Indian, and also Egyptian cotton is disposed of 
by agents at the interior points in Germany. Each agent 
represents more than one firm. He generally sells for one 
Egyptian cotton dealer (if Egyptian cotton is used in his district), 
one Indian cotton dealer, and several American cotton merchants. 
As far as possible he limits himself to the representation of 
non-competing houses; in the trade in American cotton he may 
sell for one merchant who handles only " Franko- Waggon ,ri 
cotton, and another who always sells " c.i.f." cotton. 2 By 
acting as the agent of several houses he is able to offer cotton at 
all times, even if one of his correspondents temporarily with- 
draws from the market. In this way he avoids the loss of 
customers. The importers do not employ exclusive agents 
since the business of a single importing house is not great enough 
in any one locality to enable the employment of a salesman of 
the desired ability and social standing. The agents receive a 
commission of one per cent on the value of the cotton, and accept 
no responsibility. 

The German spinner, like his competitors in England and 
America, buys cotton for immediate delivery and for forward 

1 " Franko-Waggon " signifies free on board or delivery of cotton at trans- 
portation ofike in Bremen. 

2 " C. I. F." Price quoted includes cost, insurance, freight, delivered at the 
mill. 



RAW COTTON MARKETS 359 

delivery in monthly instalments. The warehouses of the Ger- 
man mills are generally larger than those in England, and if the 
prospects are favorable at the opening of a new crop year, the 
German purchases two or three months' consumption for imme- 
diate delivery. The average quantity carried by a German 
mill is larger than in England, where the spinners profit from their 
proximity to Liverpool. At the commencement of the season 
the cotton arriving at Bremen is shipped inland at once, but 
beginning in November more and more is stored in the commo- 
dious warehouses at the Bremen docks. When American cotton 
is sold on future delivery contracts, each instalment is paid for 
as soon as received, but the terms of payment for spot deliveries 
are usually sixty days. The purchaser of Indian cotton ordinarily 
receives a credit of ninety days. 

While there is some speculation in cotton " futures " in Ham- 
burg, the dealings are insignificant and the Liverpool or New 
York market is used for hedging. The importers safeguard 
their cotton or their contracts in just the same manner as the 
English importers. But the German spinners, although they 
carry more cotton not covered by yarn orders, hedge less fre- 
quently than the English spinners. They are so far from the 
speculative markets that they cannot act with sufficient prompt- 
ness, and the decentralized German yarn and cloth market is 
not as responsive to changes in the price of cotton as the English 
market. 

Spinners of Sea Island or other long staple American cotton 
whether located in America, England, Germany, or France, buy 
their supply very early. They may even place orders with 
merchants for two or three years ahead. The supply of this 
high quality fibre is so limited that such action is warranted. 
The difficulties of obtaining that grade of material have even 
induced the English Fine Cotton Spinners' Association to pur- 
chase a plantation in America. When the cotton is sold so far 
in advance, the merchant, of course, takes the earliest opportunity 
to hedge his order. 

Havre is the principal cotton market in France. The French 
spinners formerly bought part of their supply directly from 



360 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

American shippers, but the difficulties of adjusting the claims 
for tare and the recent bill of lading frauds have discouraged 
that method. The spinners now buy their American cotton 
from Havre merchants through agents residing in the mill dis- 
tricts. The agents are paid a commission of one-half of one 
per cent or one per cent, and resemble the German agents in all 
respects. 

The Havre merchants buy the cotton from importers and 
American shippers, generally through the medium of brokers. 
Sworn brokers {courtiers assermentes) record the sales and fix 
the official quotations, receiving one-fourth of one per cent as 
their remuneration but they do not take part in business trans- 
actions on their own account. The buying and selling is done 
by the common brokers, who likewise receive a commission of 
one-fourth per cent. 

The Havre Cotton Exchange is very similar to the Liverpool 
institution, and is an important speculative market. Future 
contracts are used by the Havre merchants for hedging, and 
the spinners also frequently hedge when they have bought 
cotton ahead of yarn orders. The dealings at Havre, however, 
are confined to American cotton. The Egyptian cotton used 
in Lille is bought from the agents of Egyptian firms and imported 
at Dunkirk. 

For raw cotton buying the English spinners are more advan- 
tageously situated than the other Europeans. The raw cotton 
market organization in England works more quickly, more 
smoothly, and more surely than any on the Continent, and is 
fully as efficient as the American. 



CHAPTER XXII 

ENGLISH MARKETS 

Manchester Yarn and Cloth Market 

The commercial centre of the English cotton industry, so 
highly concentrated in Lancashire, is Manchester. To explain 
how Manchester attained its position of preeminence would be 
a long story, involving its early history as a market town and the 
consequent freedom from restrictive regulations; l the develop- 
ment of fustian dyeing and finishing on the banks of the Irwell* 
the change in the practice of the chapmen (fustian dyers) whereby 
they began to put out cotton to be spun and yarn to be woven, 
delivering the material to persons who came to Manchester 
instead of themselves journeying to Bolton to buy cloth in the 
gray; 2 and, finally, the business experience and financial strength 
of the merchants, which developed along with the rise of cotton 
factories in the surrounding district. The result is that Man- 
chester at the present time is by far the largest primary market 
in the world for cotton yarn and cloth. 

The pivot on which the Manchester trade turns is the Man- 
chester Royal Exchange. Unlike the Liverpool Exchange the 
Manchester institution is a traders' exchange, and the contracts 
made there are fulfilled by actual delivery. 'Change is held 
every day, but the meetings on Tuesday and Friday afternoons 
witness the greatest activity. On these market days the floor of 
the Exchange is thronged with spinners, manufacturers, salesmen, 
agents, merchants, finishers, machinery and supply dealers of all 
sorts, a gathering which is representative of all parties interested 
in the Lancashire cotton industry. The number of members of 
the Exchange in 1910 was 9,600. Not all of the business of 
Manchester is transacted on the floor of this indispensable in- 
stitution, but the . volume of sales consummated there is im- 

1 James Ogden, Manchester 100 Years Ago (Axon reprint), p. 93. 

2 Ibid., p. 74. 

361 



362 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

mense. It is the point at which the multiplicity of factors 
affecting the trade are concentrated. Further references to the 
place held by this exchange will be made in the following 
analysis of the diverse forces culminating there. 

If the organization of the American cloth market is complex, 
that of the English yarn and cloth trade is even more intricate. 
Salesmen, agents, and several types of merchants participate 
in the disposal of the product of the Lancashire mills. 

Both yarn and cloth are sold direct in England, and in an 
increasing proportion. Direct sales, it may be remarked, are 
understood to be those in which no broker or agent takes part. 
Many of the limited spinning companies employ salesmen who 
are present on the Exchange each day. The directors of other 
limited companies and the owners or managers of many private 
concerns attend the meetings at the Exchange on market days 
and there secure orders for yarn directly from weavers or mer- 
chants. In the cloth trade, similarly, the weaver may sell 
directly to a merchant on 'Change, and during the intervals 
between those gatherings he may accept orders which come to 
him directly. The merchant who desires a cloth of particular 
quality or design generally goes directly to the manufacturer 
who is identified with that product. Finally, there are several 
large houses in Manchester which have their own spinning and 
weaving mills, and which sell to wholesalers and even retailers. 
It is estimated that about one-half of the yarn and cloth is 
disposed of by direct sales, the remainder by agents. 

Two types of agents can be distinguished in the Lancashire 
trade. Those of the first type are practically brokers. They 
are not identified with particular mills, and the yarn which they 
sell does not pass through their hands although they collect the 
bills. They operate on a small scale and are confined almost 
entirely to the yarn trade. A spinning company which has its 
own salesman in Manchester may also place orders through 
these brokers, and others accept their services. The place which 
they hold, however, is comparatively unimportant. 

Agents of the second type regularly dispose of the product of 
particular mills. Some of these agents have the exclusive right 



ENGLISH MARKETS 363 

to sell the entire product of the mills which they represent. 
Others control only a part of the output, the remainder being 
sold directly or through other agents. The agents which have 
the exclusive privileges are for the most part old houses and 
their clients long-established spinners and manufacturers. 
One agent rarely deals in both yarn and cloth, and some handle 
only a limited range of products in one branch. The larger 
houses sell all sorts of yarn or cloth indiscriminately, but they 
then have separate departments for the special lines. The 
agents secure orders from Manchester merchants, and in the 
yarn trade a few have their own representatives in foreign 
countries. 

The English agents of the second type perform services similar 
to those of the American selling houses. They secure orders 
and give financial assistance. In numerous respects, however, 
there is a contrast. Unlike the American selling agents, they 
do not announce the identity of the mills which they represent. 
In Manchester the orders are placed with the agent and trans- 
ferred by him to the spinner or weaver, but he cannot fix the 
price. The yarn or cloth may be shipped directly by the manu- 
facturer to the merchant, but it is more commonly sent to the 
agent's warehouse to be parcelled out to the customers. The 
bills are always paid through the agent, not directly to the pro- 
ducer. When trade is dull, goods may be consigned to agents 
to be disposed of as occasion arises, or, if the agent anticipates 
a rise in prices, he sometimes orders cloth from the weavers, 
has it finished on his own account, and thus plays the part of a 
merchant. 

In England it is the smaller firms and the private concerns 
which employ agents most extensively. The volume of the trade 
of such manufacturers is not large enough to warrant the main- 
tenance of a salesman, and where one man superintends both 
the manufacturing and the selling, the agent is of great assistance. 

The bulk of the goods sold through agents are the plain, 
standard products. Competitors are numerous, and the mer- 
chant can place his orders more easily when he does not have 
to consult all the mills engaged in the manufacture of the yarn 



364 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

or cloth which he seeks. In this respect the English agents 
resemble the brokers in the American trade. The agent, more- 
over, has an established reputation and there is less risk in 
dealing with him. 

The agent gives financial aid to the mills which he represents. 
He may do this indirectly by guaranteeing the accounts and 
thus assuming the risk of loss; but he more commonly pays 
for the goods as soon as they are delivered to him although he 
does not receive his pay till a later date. Thus he provides credit 
which the spinner or weaver cannot conveniently give. In 
former years it was common for the agent to act as banker for 
the manufacturer. He received the money paid for goods 
delivered, held it till the manufacturer directed payment, and 
paid interest when a surplus was in his possession. If the 
manufacturer required an advance of funds beyond the amount 
held by the agent, then the latter received interest. This 
practice has been continued by the older houses in the case of 
clients of long standing. These services of the agent are valu- 
able, but he has also maintained his business by other means. 
An agent has oftentimes made loans to manufacturers and in 
that way kept them in his grip. They could not free themselves 
from an agent to whom they were in debt. The promoters of 
new mills during the last decade have frequently tied themselves 
to agents in return for subscriptions to capital stock. The 
agents have invested in the undertaking for the sake of securing 
sole selling rights. 

The commission which the agent receives is determined by 
the services which he performs. In the yarn trade a general 
agent, who does not guarantee the account, receives one-half 
of one per cent on the value of the sales. When he does guarantee 
the account, his remuneration is one and one-half per cent. 
A cloth agent who sells the entire product of a mill receives one 
per cent when he does not guarantee the account, and one and 
one-half or two per cent with guarantee. If he has only a partial 
agency, he receives two per cent without guarantee and four 
per cent with guarantee. These rates are not absolutely fixed, 
however, and special considerations cause variations. 



ENGLISH MARKETS 365 

The position held by the agents in the Manchester trade 
seems to be rather precarious. The proportion of the yarn and 
cloth sold by agents has declined during the last two decades. 
The number of joint-stock companies has increased, particularly 
in spinning, and the scale of production has become larger. 
When the output per mill is voluminous, a single director can as- 
sume 'the selling function or a private salesman can be employed. 
Moreover the larger concerns generally have sufficient capital 
at their disposal, so that they can dispense with the financial 
assistance of agents. The establishment of foreign depart- 
ments has somewhat counterbalanced the pressure bearing 
down upon the agents, and long-established reputations and 
trade connections are not easily overcome. Except for brokers, 
however, who may be indispensable to the Manchester trade, 
the old type of agency, with exclusive privileges, appears to 
have passed its zenith. 

Although yarn and cloth are sometimes bought and sold by 
an agent on his own responsibility, he is then outside of his 
proper sphere and has become a merchant. The term mer- 
chant is applied indiscriminately in Manchester to all who deal 
in yarn and cloth, except the spinners, weavers, and finishers. 
The merchants may be roughly divided into three classes, con- 
verters, 1 home trade houses, and foreign trade merchants. They 
overlap each other, since nearly all the merchants are conver- 
ters and most converters invade the field of the home and foreign 
trade merchants. The fine of demarcation between the home 
and foreign traders is also occasionally obliterated. 

Those merchants who are primarily converters buy yarn or 
cloth in the gray and have it dyed, bleached, or printed. The 
largest firm of yarn converters in Manchester, for example, 
buys gray yarn, and sells it in the gray, or dyed, bleached, mer- 
erized, or doubled, and wound in any form desired. They 
have their own doubling plant, but the other processes are per- 
formed for them by job dyers or bleachers. They have their 
own agencies in London, New York, and Continental cities, 

1 The term " converter " is never used in Manchester, but is employed here 
in the sense in which it has been used in describing the American market. 



366 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

but they sell large quantities in Manchester. They carry a stock 
of yarn in the forms for which there is a regular demand. Other 
yarn converters have no works of their own and sell only in the 
Manchester market. 

A cloth converter, similarly, buys gray cloth and sells it in a 
finished state. Bleaching and dyeing are always done on com- 
mission for a merchant, and, as has been pointed out, 1 job print- 
ing predominates. For prints the converter not only makes 
use of the designs prepared by the printer but also has his own 
designs. By guaranteeing to order a large quantity of a certain 
design submitted by the printer, he may obtain a monopoly 
of that design. He also purchases designs from Paris designers 
and employs a printer to have them engraved and printed. 
Unless the order submitted is large, the converter pays the cost 
of engraving. Converters sometimes have their own rollers 
and send them already engraved to the printer, but the incon- 
veniences to the converter of attending to the engraving and the 
impossibility of using the same roller in all printing machines 
have caused this practice to undergo a great decline. 

While a converter may deal only in staple goods, the bulk of 
the converters' business is in seasonal fabrics. Although buyers 
visit his warehouse, the converter obtains the larger part of his 
orders from samples which are sent to his customers. A whole- 
saler will order goods for two or three months only, but after 
the samples have been submitted he expects the converter to 
retain them for a year and to be ready to deliver repeat orders 
on ten days' notice. It is therefore necessary for the converter 
to carry a stock of gray cloth of the sort for which he anticipates 
fresh orders. The prices quoted by the converter do not hold 
for a period longer than that for which an order is given, i. e. 
two or three months as a rule. If the customer orders more 
cloth of the same design or finish at the end of that time, the 
price may be readjusted since the initial costs have already been 
covered. These price changes, however, are only fractional, 
inasmuch as the wholesaler will continue to charge the same 

1 See ante, p. 328. 



ENGLISH MARKETS 367 

price to the retailer. The retail price has been fixed and the 
further away from the initial processes the less the price is in- 
fluenced by cost and the more by public fancy or demand. 

The customers of converters include local home trade and 
foreign merchants, 1 wholesale houses in London, Glasgow, and 
Manchester, clothiers in Leeds, Glasgow, and elsewhere, shirt 
manufacturers and other cutters-up, and correspondents in 
foreign countries. 

The home trade houses of Manchester are not so numerous 
as the export firms, but several of them have a very large business. 
While cotton cloth makes up the bulk of their trade, a number 
of the home trade merchants also deal in ribbons, laces, furs, 
feathers, hosiery, gloves, and other goods. The most unique of 
these undertakings is that of Rylands & Sons, who operate spin- 
ning, weaving, and converting works, a factory for manufac- 
turing articles of clothing, and an oil-cloth mill. They also buy 
cloth, house furnishings, and a variety of other products, such as 
cricket bats and novelties. A majority of the other large home 
traders, — Horrockses, Crewdson & Co., Henry Bannerman & 
Sons, Barlow & Jones, Haslams', and Tootal, Broadhurst & Lee, 
spin and weave part of the cloth which they sell. They are 
large enough to combine manufacturing and merchandizing, 
and have a fairly steady demand for high quality goods in a 
market where tastes are easily ascertained. 

The home trade houses sell to makers up, wholesalers, and 
retailers. The practice of selling to retailers is a recent develop- 
ment and is viewed by the wholesalers with hostility. Only 
the largest concerns can sell directly to the retailers since a 
large force of salesmen is necessary to place the orders and to 
keep track of the credit of customers. The increased scale of 
business of these home trade houses and the presence of a larger 
number of good sized retail establishments have encouraged sales 
direct to retailers. Yet the multitude of small shops in Eng- 
land, to which goods must be parcelled out in small quantities, 
prevents the extinction of the wholesaler. 

1 These home trade and foreign merchants take relatively less than the other 
customers. 



368 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The home trade merchant maintains his position by reason 
of two services. First, in addition to taking the part of a con- 
verter, he buys cloth in large quantities and distributes it in 
smaller lots. He carries a large stock from which the whole- 
salers and retailers can replenish their supplies on short notice. 
In the second place, he provides credit. He pays the manufac- 
turer within seven days, as a rule, after the cloth is delivered, 
but he, in turn, is not reimbursed by his customers till several 
months later. In other words his capital enables the whole- 
saler and retailer to carry a stock of goods on their shelves to 
be gradually placed in the hands of the ultimate consumers. 
Although no fixed percentage is added to the price of the goods 
by him, his remuneration is said to average from ten to fifteen 
per cent on the value of the cloth which passes through his hands. 

The converter and the agent, as has been stated, may sell 
to foreigners. Several of the large companies (manufacturing 
merchants) which have an extensive home trade also sell abroad. 
Rylands, for instance, employ salesmen in the Continental 
countries, and in North and South America. Barlow & Jones 
is another house with a similarly extensive field of operations. 
But the bulk of the foreign trade flows through channels that 
have no direct alliance with the home trade. 

There are two classes of foreign trade merchants in Man- 
chester, the exporters and the shippers. The exporter has branch 
offices or agents in the foreign countries to which goods are 
consigned. The foreign branches keep the home office informed 
of trade conditions, and may order goods to be sent, but the 
business is primarily one of consignment without specific order. 
The volume of trade carried on by this means is small. 

The shipper, or shipping merchant, on the contrary, dis- 
patches yarn or cloth only after an order has been given to him. 
The orders are made by means of samples previously submitted 
to the foreign correspondents or samples which the foreign 
house sends to Manchester to be matched. Standard qualities 
of yarn and cloth can be ordered without samples of any sort. 
When prices have not already been quoted, the merchant, 
immediately upon receipt of an inquiry, ascertains the price at 



ENGLISH MARKETS 369 

which he can offer to ship the yarn or cloth, and if his terms are 
accepted, he at once proceeds to fill the order. The merchant 
generally carries a stock of cloth to facilitate delivery and also 
because orders are received for smaller quantities than he can 
purchase at one time from the manufacturer. He buys in 
larger lots than he sells. 

The foreign trade merchant ships yarn and cloth in the gray 
and in the finished state. He has his own designs and perhaps 
his own rollers for printing gray cloth. He not only buys gray 
yarn and cloth to be converted according to the orders on his 
books or anticipated demands, but also purchases finished goods 
from the merchant-converter, the printer, and the manufac- 
turer of fancy fabrics. Each merchant has his own trade marks 
which he places upon the goods he sells. The remuneration of 
the merchant varies according to the length of time for which he 
has to await payment and the amount of risk involved. He 
pays the spinner or manufacturer within ten days after receipt 
of the goods, but is not reimbursed by the foreign purchaser 
till a later date, perhaps six months after shipment. The banks 
advance money to the merchants on the bills for the goods, but 
it is the merchant who assumes the risk of loss. 

Some merchants have large warehouses and their own equip- 
ment for packing. But there are also job packers l in Man- 
chester. Firms having no office, or at least no warehouse in 
Manchester, direct the manufacturers to whom they give orders 
to send the goods to a specified packer. There the several 
consignments are assembled, inspected, and prepared for ship- 
ment. There are numerous buildings in Manchester owned 
by packers who have their packing rooms on the ground floor 
or in the basement and lease the office rooms above to merchants 
for a nominal rent, or rent free, on condition that all the goods 
handled by the merchant be packed by the owner of the building. 

1 The 191 1 Manchester Directory names 49 packers. The largest was Lloyd 
Packing Warehouses, Ltd., with 11 branches in Manchester, 1 in Blackburn, 1 in 
Bradford, and a case making works. Delaney had 3 branches in Manchester, 1 in 
Bradford, and a tin and wood case works. The Manchester Central Packing Ware- 
houses had 7 branches and J. Stevenson & Sons, 3. 



370 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The packer receives about six shillings ($1.46) per bale for 
packing, and provides the canvas, tarpaulin, and other materials. 
Except for the largest merchants, this method is economical, 
since the packer can buy his supplies cheaply in large quantities 
and is able to keep his plant constantly at work. 

While the larger part of the exported product of the Lan- 
cashire mills is sold by the Manchester exporters or shippers, 
it may pass through other hands. In foreign countries, espe- 
cially those of Continental Europe, there are merchants and 
agents who purchase directly from the English spinners and 
manufacturers, sending their orders by mail or telegraph. A 
few foreign houses have their own office in Manchester, as, for 
example, Marshall Field & Co. of Chicago, and Arnold, Con- 
stable & Co. of New York. Finally, in the trade with North 
and South America, buyers visit England. 

An institution which is intimately connected with the trade 
in yarn and cloth is the Manchester Testing House. All kinds 
of textile materials and other supplies are there submitted to 
chemical and mechanical tests. Some of the tests are purely 
experimental, but the greater part are to determine the quality 
of some article of trade. Manufacturers send samples of mate- 
rials for analysis. Sizing ingredients are tested to ascertain 
whether or not they contain anything injurious to the cloth, 
especially if the latter is to have a peculiar finish. Cloth which 
has proved to be inferior in quality is tested for the purpose of 
fixing the responsibility. The conclusions of the Testing House 
are not binding in the case of a dispute, but they are generally 
respected. It provides a recognized means of arbitration. 

Let us now summarize the characteristics of the Lancashire 
trade. Yarn is sold directly by the spinners to manufacturers 
and merchants, and also through agents. The amount which 
is sold direct has increased with the larger number of joint-stock 
companies and other big firms. The spinner seldom spins for 
stock, and he may have orders for six months ahead when trade 
is brisk. Normally he receives orders in September, October, 
and November which will keep his mill employed till March. 



ENGLISH MARKETS 371 

It is at that time that the new cotton crop is being placed upon 
the market and the prospects for the next year become apparent. 
The orders may be placed at any time, but even when the buyer 
and seller have previously corresponded, the business is, as a rule, 
actually concluded upon the Manchester Exchange. 

Cloth, similarly, may be disposed of with the assistance of 
an agent, but large quantities are sold directly by the manufac- 
turers to the printers and merchants. More cloth than yarn is 
manufactured ahead of orders, but the proportion which is not 
made to fill a specific order is very small. The sales of cloth of 
special quality or fancy design are not so closely confined to the 
Exchange as the trade in standard plain goods, in the production 
of which numerous mills compete. For the latter class of goods 
the Exchange serves as a focus in fixing the current price. 

A pound of cotton arriving in Liverpool, therefore, may pass 
through many hands. It may happen that the importer sells 
it himself to a manufacturer who operates spinning, weaving, 
and finishing mills, and who sells the cloth to retailers in England 
or other countries. But more frequently the pound of cotton 
will pay tribute to two Liverpool brokers, to a yarn agent and 
merchant, to a cloth agent, converter, and merchant, and finally 
to a wholesaler and retailer. During its course it may also have 
been the property of a spinner, a doubler, a weaver, and a printer. 

The advantage accruing from this multiplicity of middlemen 
is not inexpensiveness but flexibility. The tentacles of the 
Manchester trade reach out to all corners of the world, and 
whatever form of manufactured cotton is sought, whatever ac- 
commodation is desired, some one can be found in Manchester 
ready to accept the commission. Of all the assets which make 
it possible for the cotton industry to attain its largest dimen- 
sions in a country which does not produce the raw material, and 
which consumes only ten or twenty per cent of the yarn and 
cloth manufactured in its mills, none is more significant than 
the adaptability of the commercial organization. 

If America is to become a large exporter of cotton fabrics, 
we may expect a similar diversification and specialization of the 



372 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

merchandizing functions. Methods which serve admirably 
for the domestic market do not suffice to meet the varying 
exigencies of a trade with countries where local conditions and 
local customs are very diverse. It is idle to call upon American 
manufacturers to study foreign markets. Their part is to stand 
ready to execute orders presented by merchants who understand 
the requirements of the customers, provide credit, and assume 
the risks inevitably involved in foreign trade. 

Nottingham Market 

Two trades are centred in Nottingham, the knit-goods trade 
and the lace trade. The yarn which is used in these industries 
is purchased from local agents, each of whom represents several 
non-competing spinners and doublers. They sell one sort of 
yarn for one spinner, another sort for another spinner. The 
largest manufacturers of knit goods employ salesmen in England 
and foreign countries, but the majority secure their orders 
through agents in London and Manchester. The agents sell, 
on commission, to home trade houses and foreign shippers. 

The organization of the net and curtain trade is also simple. 
Curtains are sold by the manufacturer to merchants or whole- 
salers. Net is sometimes sold by the maker directly to the 
embroiderer but the greater part goes to merchants who dispose 
of it to English and Continental embroidery makers. The 
market for small laces is more complex. Brown lace, i. e. 
unfinished, is sold by the makers to finishers and to merchants. 
If it is purchased by a finisher, he sells it in the finished form to 
a merchant. If the merchant buys in the brown, he employs a 
job finisher. t The maker frequently has an agreement with a 
merchant to sell only to him. The designs for the lace are 
bought from Paris designers by lace makers and by merchants. 
When a merchant purchases designs, he engages a manufacturer 
to set them up and manufacture the lace for him. In the home 
trade the merchant sells to wholesalers and large retailers, in 
the foreign trade to correspondents and to buyers who visit 



ENGLISH MARKETS 373 

Nottingham. The foreign buyers who go to England are mainly 
the representatives of houses in the United States and Canada, 
although a few South American importers follow the same 
practice. The American firms purchase in such large quantities 
that the travelling expenses of the buyer are offset by the 
advantages in selecting goods and in meeting the producer on 
his own ground. The functions of the middleman are the same 
in Nottingham as in Manchester. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

CONTINENTAL MARKETS 

The analysis of the English market organization is particularly 
interesting on account of the volume of the trade and the variety 
of needs to which it has adapted itself. The conditions on the 
Continent are different, and the type of organization is not the 
same as in England or America. Nevertheless, something is to 
be learned from a study of the methods by which the products 
are sold in Germany, France, and Switzerland. 

Germany 

The German yarn market includes the trade in both domestic 
and foreign yarn. On the domestic side there are direct sales 
from spinners to weavers or other manufacturers, and also to 
agents and merchants. The larger knitting and weaving mills 
in Saxony generally buy domestic yarn directly from the spinner, 
and in the other sections direct sales are more or less common 
for large orders or when the weaver is desirous of obtaining the 
yarn of a particular spinner. 

In Saxony large quantities of yarn are sold by the spinners to 
merchants, who accept all the risk. There are also agents in 
the Saxon market. And elsewhere the agent greatly overshadows 
the merchant. Each agent represents from one to five or six 
spinners, whose mills may or may not be located in the imme- 
diate neighborhood. The agent ordinarily has the sole agency 
in his district for each of those mills, but he avoids accepting 
the representation of competing spinners. Except in Miil- 
hausen, where the agent is little more than a broker, he is identi- 
fied with the mills for which he sells. An agent may deal only 
in yarn, or he may also sell raw cotton, cloth, and even non- 
textile products. 

The German yarn agent accepts no risk, does not actually 
handle the yarn, and does not collect the bill. He merely 

374 



CONTINENTAL MARKETS 375 

passes on the order from manufacturer to spinner, and receives 
in return a commission of one-half of one per cent or one per cent 
on the amount of the sale. 

Yarn is imported into Germany by merchants and agents. 
Chemnitz is a market into which much foreign yarn finds its 
way, so that it can serve as an example. The merchant buys 
yarn directly from English spinners, occasionally merchants, 
and carries a stock in his Chemnitz warehouse. In this way he 
is able to deliver to the knitters or weavers much more quickly 
than if he had to obtain the yarn in England after he received 
an order. The agent sells on commission and carries no stock, 
although he frequently agrees to dispose of a fixed quantity of 
yarn for an English spinner in a year. He is a typical German 
agent and has several strings to his bow. One agent will repre- 
sent not only an English cotton spinner, but, perhaps, a German 
spinner of coarse counts, a cashmere spinner, an Italian silk firm, 
and even other manufacturers. 

A few German manufacturers who finish their own cloth sell 
directly to retailers, but the volume of this trade is relatively 
insignificant. A few also sell directly to wholesalers and expor- 
ters. And a somewhat larger number sell gray cloth to con- 
verters without any intermediary assistance, a converter some- 
times contracting to take the entire output of a mill. 

In Saxony the little colored goods mills in some instances 
sell to a single merchant or exporter, who may have given financial 
assistance and taken a mortgage on the property. In Glauchau, 
for example, one exporter is said to control the output of several 
small mills producing fancy goods. But for Germany as a 
whole such exclusive arrangements are rare. A very large 
proportion of the German cloth is sold by agents. 

The German cloth agent resembles the raw cotton agent and 
the yarn agent. There are agents with businesses of all sizes, 
from those who sell for only one mill to the large firms represent- 
ing several mills and having offices in various cities. One of 
the largest is the firm of Wilhelm Rieger, which represents Ger- 
man and Swiss spinners and weavers, and in addition to the head 
office in Stuttgart has branches in Berlin, Elberfeld, and Leipsic. 



376 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The agents who represent manufacturers of finished cloth 
sell to wholesalers, exporters, merchants, and sometimes to 
large retailers such as the department stores. The gray cloth 
agents sell to printers and merchant-converters. In Mtil- 
hausen there are agents who sell for any mill, but as a rule the 
German cloth agent is identified with specified manufacturers. 
No responsibility, however, is accepted by the agent and the 
cloth is not shipped to him. Moreover he does not collect the 
bill. His remuneration is a commission of one per cent on 
small orders and one-half of one per cent on large orders. 

Gray cloth for converting is purchased by the printer and the 
merchant-converter. Aside from Turkey-red dyeing, all the 
bleaching and dyeing is done on the account of merchants. 
While numerous printers own all or part of the cloth which they 
convert, the greater proportion of the work is done for merchant- 
converters, 1 and the latter system is gaining ground. The 
printer who works for others does not have any of his capital 
tied up in the form of cloth, and the risk is shifted to the mer- 
chant. 

Although he may also purchase small quantities of finished 
goods from the Buntwebereien (colored goods manufacturers), 
the converter buys principally gray cloth. The largest firm of 
converters in Germany is that of Gebrlider Simon in Berlin, 
their business being as great as that of all the other Berlin con- 
verters taken together. As in England, the converter prepares 
designs for his own use and also makes use of the designs issued 
by the printers. But by whomever the designs are issued, 
they originate in Paris. When the converter does not own the 
designs, he may obtain a monopoly, at least for the domestic 
trade, by contracting to order a sufficiently large quantity. 
Other designs on the printer's books are open to all. 

The terms on which the converter buys are net thirty days, 
two per cent off for cash. If more than thirty days' credit is 
sought from the manufacturer, interest must be paid. A con- 
verter with sufficient capital pays cash for the cloth which he 

1 S. Tschierschky, Die Zollpolitischen Interressen der Deutschen Textil-veredlungs- 
industrie, p. 10. 



CONTINENTAL MARKETS 377 

buys. But he does not receive reimbursement immediately. 
He has to carry the goods while they are being converted, and 
he grants credit to the customer. He sells the cloth to jobbers, 
large retailers, and exporters, the sales to the jobbers predominat- 
ing. 

The German exporters do not act as converters, but buy only 
finished cloth. This is due in part to the dispersion of the 
markets in Germany, but more particularly to the predominance 
in the exports of fabrics made from dyed yarn, such as uphol- 
steries, " buckskins,'' and the like. The leading houses export- 
ing German goods are located in Hamburg, Antwerp, Paris, 
and Berlin. They order the cloth from the manufacturers 
through agents. They pay the manufacturer soon after delivery, 
but grant, perhaps, unduly long credits. In fact, the credit 
accommodations to foreign purchasers, of which our consuls 
speak so frequently, originate not with the German manufac- 
turers but with these wealthy export houses. Moreover, since 
they sell not only cloth manufactured in their own country, but 
cloth from other European countries, particularly England, as 
well, these export houses are somewhat international in character. 

Germany is not without a cotton manufacturers' exchange; 
there is a " Borse " in Stuttgart and another in Mulhausen. 
But they are not at all like the Manchester Exchange. They 
are merely meetings of manufacturers for an exchange of opinions 
on market conditions. The Stuttgart Borse was started forty 
years ago. The meetings of the members of that Exchange are 
held every two weeks, and are attended by spinners and manu- 
facturers from Wtirttemberg and the neighboring parts of south- 
ern Germany. The Mulhausen Exchange meets weekly, and 
the gatherings are for the same object as those in Stuttgart. 
No trading takes place at these meetings, but the current prices 
are fixed by mutual opinion. Yet the prices published are in 
no way binding and are always " bullish," since they represent, 
not what the manufacturers are actually receiving but what 
they think they ought to receive. To the participants them- 
selves they are of value in enabling them to feel the pulse beats 
of the larger market. 



37§ THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

The export trade of Germany in cotton products other than 
cloth is particularly important, and the Chemnitz knit-goods 
trade holds the first place. Chemnitz is primarily an export 
market but contrasts with the English textile commercial centres 
in having few local merchants. The knit-goods merchants of 
Chemnitz are neither numerous nor important, since they 
conduct but a very small share of the business. 

About forty per cent of the knit goods produced in Chemnitz, 
it is estimated, is sent to the United States, and by peculiar 
routes. They are bought by resident agents and by buyers 
who are sent out from America. In 1910 about one hundred 
and fifty American firms had resident agents in Chemnitz. 
The agent in some cases represents only a single firm, in others 
a number of smaller houses, occasionally as many as twenty- 
five. The agent may purchase goods, but the representatives 
of the larger firms attend only to the placing of " repeat orders," 
and to the payment for the goods and the adjustment of claims. 
Their sphere of action generally includes not only the Chemnitz 
district but several or all of the German markets in which their 
house purchases goods. The buyers visit Chemnitz once or 
twice a year, the large firms sending a buyer for each special 
line. 

The buyers and agents deal directly with the manufacturers, 
no middleman intervening. The finished goods are packed by 
the manufacturer or finisher and shipped by him, although the 
agent generally gives directions as to time of shipment in order 
to have several consignments dispatched together from the port. 
While credit of thirty days or longer is granted at times, the goods 
are generally paid for within ten days after the receipt of the 
bill of lading at the office of the Chemnitz agent. The business 
with America, therefore, is done on practically a cash basis. 

In addition to the trade controlled by the American agents 
and buyers, both cloth and knitted fabrics are shipped by Saxon 
manufacturers to New York importers, who receive all the 
product of such mills, or at least all that goes to America. The 
manufacturers refuse to sell to others, or accept orders from 
buyers only on condition that the goods be shipped through 



CONTINENTAL MARKETS 379 

the New York importing house. The importer finances the 
business by paying the manufacturer and advancing the amount 
of the import duty, and attends to the customs inspection. 
He receives a commission for his services. 

When the goods are thus consigned before sale, some importers 
may occasionally reap an extra profit from evasion of the import 
duty by undervaluation. If the consignment includes fancy 
gloves of novel design, for example, which have not previously 
been placed upon the market, no one can decide just how much 
they are worth. In that case the importer may fix a valuation 
considerably below the price at which he ultimately sells. The 
amount of duty that he has evaded then goes into his pocket. 
In addition to the business of their regular clients the import 
houses will perform the same financial and port services for 
others. But their business is relatively small, since the sales 
to buyers and resident agents in Chemnitz predominate. 

The exports from Chemnitz to England are second in amount, 
but no English houses have agents or buyers in Chemnitz. 
The Chemnitz manufacturers send salesmen to England twice 
a year with new samples, and in the intervening periods a Lon- 
don agent attends to the business. These agents represent one 
or more houses according to the volume of their trade. The 
English purchasers place small orders at frequent intervals, 
the Americans large orders at one or two seasons of the year. 
It is for this reason that the Americans can afford to send buyers 
across the ocean. In the Chemnitz trade with England the 
accounts are constantly open and monthly payments made. 

A few Chemnitz manufacturers have their own organization 
for selling in other parts of the world, one manufacturer of high 
grade hosiery, for instance, who employs three hundred work- 
men, has an office force of thirty attending to the orders which 
are placed by mail with foreign correspondents. But the trade 
with countries other than the United States and England goes 
largely through the export houses in Hamburg and Paris. They 
are the same firms which were met with in the cloth trade. 
These large export houses grant the credit to the foreign pur- 
chaser and accept the risk of loss. 



380 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

Middlemen are conspicuously absent from the Chemnitz 
market since their assistance is unnecessary. In the first place 
the Saxon manufacturers accept small orders, so that there is 
no need of a distributor. In the second place, the financial func- 
tion of the middleman has been superseded in the American 
and English trade, where the manufacturers receive payment 
immediately or after a short period of credit, and in the other 
foreign trade, where the Hamburg and Paris houses carry the 
burden of credit. 

The Barmen trade in braids, trimmings, and other small 
wares also has unique characteristics. A few large manufac- 
turers, perhaps half a dozen, send representatives to New York, 
but most of the American business is done by American buyers 
who visit Barmen, and by Barmen export commission houses. 
The buyers place orders with the large manufacturers and also 
through the commission houses. It is estimated that seventy- 
five per cent of the trade in Barmen wares with America is 
participated in by the commission houses. There are three 
large commission exporters and several small firms. They differ 
from the majority of the Chemnitz agents in that they are not 
identified with any foreign firms. Neither are they identified 
with particular manufacturers. They do not restrict their 
business to cotton fabrics, but handle other articles such as 
appear on the counters of American department stores. They 
send samples to American correspondents, and, as has been 
stated, also secure orders from the buyers visiting Barmen, 
For the latter they collect samples from many small manufac- 
turers so that the buyer is able to exercise a wide choice in a short 
time. 

The orders secured by the commission houses are transferred 
to the manufacturers, who pack and ship the goods when finished. 
The commission merchant does not himself actually touch the 
goods, but he gives directions as to time of shipment so as to have 
several consignments arrive simultaneously at the same port. 
In this way he is able to collect several invoices and save in 
consular fees and other shipping charges. He accepts responsi- 
bility for the quality of the goods, and pays the manufacturer 



CONTINENTAL MARKETS 381 

as soon as he receives the invoice and the notice from the for- 
warding agent that the goods have been delivered for shipment. 
Moreover, he grants credit to the American purchaser, thirty 
days after shipment being the usual terms. In this instance 
we have a middleman collecting goods for large purchasers from 
small manufacturers, and also utilizing his capital in granting 
credit. 

The Plauen trade 1 has certain features of both the Chemnitz 
and the Barmen markets. In the domestic trade the manufac- 
turers for the most part sell directly to retailers or wholesalers 
in the larger cities; salesmen are sent out and buyers visit 
Plauen. The large export trade in Plauen laces and embroid- 
eries is more complicated. It can be divided into two fairly 
distinct sections, the sales to the United States and the sales to 
other countries. For handling the latter branch, there are about 
fifty Plauen export houses, and in addition the Hamburg and 
Paris merchants place orders with the Plauen manufacturers, 
Hamburg for staple goods and Paris for fancy novelties. 

In the American trade, although there is a small consignment 
business, the greater part of the purchases are made by resident 
agents and travelling buyers. There were in 1905 twenty to 
forty American import houses and ten to fifteen American 
department stores sending buyers to Plauen. The latter are 
the largest purchasers. A dozen of the American houses have 
exclusive agents in Plauen; the others ordinarily employ a 
commission house. The agents, as at Chemnitz, assemble 
samples for the buyers, watch the market, place repeat orders, 
and attend to shipment and payment. The commission house 
is employed for the buyers by those firms which have no agent 
at Plauen. There are five large commission houses, and each 
serves two to ten American firms, in addition to its other business. 
The " commissionaire " collects samples, accepts the orders, 
ships the goods, and pays the manufacturer. His remuneration 
is three to five per cent. With his assistance a buyer can econo- 
mize in time and yet obtain a wide view of the market in which 

1 Max G. von Loeben, Der Absatz der Plauener Spitzen nach den Vereinigtcn 
Staaten, p. 42. The following description is based on that monograph. 



382 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

he is interested. As elsewhere, the American purchasers buy 
in large quantities and pay cash or receive, at most, a short 
term credit. 

France and Switzerland 

The French trade in cotton products can be separated into 
three parts, the yarn trade, the cloth trade, and the export 
trade. In the yarn trade the Lille market is the most important, 
since in that district spinning is completely independent of 
weaving. A small quantity of the Lille yarn is sold directly to 
the manufacturers either by correspondence or by the spinners' 
salesmen. There are also yarn merchants in Lille and Calais 
who transact business on their own account. But the greater 
proportion of the yarn is sold by agents located in the manufac- 
turing districts. An agent may represent a single mill or several 
mills, and receives a commission of one per cent, infrequently 
two per cent, on the amount of his sales. The usual terms of 
payment in the " Nord " are net, thirty days after the end of the 
current month, or one per cent off for cash. In the hosiery trade 
the terms are two per cent, thirty days, and in other places a 
higher discount and longer credit, sixty or ninety days, are 
frequently granted. Yet the prices are always quoted at a 
higher figure under such conditions. 

In the Vosges four or five large spinning mills have an old 
clientele to which they sell all their product directly. For 
the remaining spinners, agents frequently intervene, receiving 
one-half of one per cent. In Normandy several of the old spin- 
ning concerns sell through regular selling houses, which control 
the entire output, guarantee accounts, and are paid two per cent 
commission. Other spinners ordinarily sell by means of agents 
who accept no responsibility and obtain only one-half of one 
per cent commission. 

In neither the yarn nor the cloth trade of France is there an 
exchange like that at Manchester. In Lille the cotton spinners' 
" Bourse " meets every week, but for intercourse, not trading. 
Similarly at Amiens, a weekly meeting of cloth manufacturers 
is held to talk over conditions and prices. Taking France as a. 



CONTINENTAL MARKETS 383 

whole, the mills are too broadly dispersed for market concen- 
tration. 

In the cloth market there are both direct sales and the employ- 
ment of agents. A small number of the Vosgian manufacturers 
sell directly to printers and merchants, a few even having their 
own office in Paris. But the majority are represented in Paris, 
Lyons, and other cloth markets by agents who are remunerated 
with a commission of one-half of one per cent or one per cent. 
The agents merely place the orders. 

The Norman cloth manufacturers entrust the selling of their 
product to exclusive selling houses less frequently than the 
spinners, although the quantities of cloth disposed of by that 
method are by no means small. Some of the other manufac- 
turers sell through the ordinary agent. But a larger number are 
represented in the cloth markets by private salesmen. In Nor- 
mandy more finished cloth, stripes and fancies, is produced, 
whereas the Vosgian product is predominantly gray goods. 
The finished goods require more attention in merchandizing and 
this seems to be obtained most assuredly by private salesmen. 

Aside from the cloth woven from converted yarn, practically 
the entire output of the French cotton mills is sold in the gray. 
A part of this goes at once into the hands of merchants, who 
give it out to be bleached, dyed, or printed on their account. 
A larger portion of the cloth which is printed, however, is bought 
by the printers. In the print trade the merchant-converter has 
a far smaller share in France than in England or Germany. 
On the other hand, the wholesaler has been crowded out to a 
greater extent in France. The manufacturer of striped and fancy 
cloth, the printer, and the merchant-converter sell large quanti- 
ties direct to the big retail stores. 

The colonies are the largest export market for French cotton 
goods. In the colonies near at hand, such as Algeria, colonial 
merchants carry on the trade by sending buyers to France. 
The more remote colonies, such as Madagascar, are supplied 
by French export houses. 

The exports of cotton manufactures from France to the 
United States are novelty dress goods and laces. A part of 



384 TEE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

this trade is in the hands of French exporters, the lace trade in 
particular being controlled by a few large exporters who have 
made a specialty of it. But purchases by American buyers are 
important. The firms which send buyers to France are either 
represented by agents in Paris or employ " commissionaires." 
The conditions and methods are much the same as in Germany. 
The agents are, for the most part, sole representatives, although 
there are three or four each of whom is employed jointly by 
several American houses. The " commissionaires " are utilized 
by those buyers who have no agent in Paris. They differ from 
the agents in that they are not identified with any firms, are paid 
a commission (five per cent), and have, as a rule, about twenty 
clients. The buyers visit the agents or " commissionaires " to 
receive instructions and market information, and then place 
orders with the " commissionaires," merchants, or manufacturers. 
The ordinary term of credit granted is thirty days. 

The Swiss cotton cloth trade centres in Zurich. Yarn, it 
may be stated, is ordinarily sold direct by the spinner to the 
weaver in Switzerland, although yarn agents occasionally inter- 
vene. There are also cloth agents, so-called, but they are 
comparatively insignificant. They are said to obtain their com- 
mission by the difference in discount allowed, which nets them 
one per cent. A small number of manufacturers have their clom 
converted and sell directly to small jobbers or retailers. The 
others sell in the gray to printers and merchant-converters. ° 7 

Forms of market organization, we may conclude, are adjusted 
to the geographical distribution of the mills, the scale of pro- 
duction, and the nature of the trade. 

The English industry is so highly concentrated that the busi- 
ness can be centralized in Manchester. Paris is so preeminently 
the financial and commercial as well as the political and social 
centre of France that it dominates the French trade in cotton 
goods. Yet there are outside local markets in France of a 
magnitude unknown in Lancashire. Berlin does not hold the 
same place in the German commercial world that Paris has in 
France, and it is so far from the chief cotton manufacturing 
districts that it is a secondary market for cotton fabrics. The 



CONTINENTAL MARKETS 385 

German primary markets are numerous and scattered. The 
dispersion of the industry in the Continental countries and 
social customs account for the peculiar forms of agency which 
have arisen in the domestic trade. 

The influence of the scale of production is seen particularly 
in the trade in lace and novelties, where the middleman is a 
collector rather than a distributor. The nature of the market 
is the reason for the methods employed in selling to American 
purchasers, by means of buyers and resident agents. 

The position of the merchant-converter in Germany is worthy 
of attention as it emphasizes the tendency shown in America 
and England for a merchant to assume the risk involved in the 
selection of design and finish. 

Finally, in any comparison of the relative cost of selling, 
attention must be paid to the method of distributing risk. So 
far as the manufacturer and primary merchant are concerned, 
that risk in domestic trade in both Europe and America is 
evidently from one to two per cent. When the manufacturer 
assumes that risk it is fair to conclude that a compensating 
amount is added to his selling price. In each country the 
remunerations of the middlemen are adjusted to their services 
in . accepting risk, in providing credit, and in distributing or 
collecting the goods. Although the market organizations in 
brth America and Europe seem to be fairly well adapted to 
tlic prevailing conditions, that of Manchester is by far the most 
efficient for handling a trade large in volume and diverse in 
character. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

CONCLUSIONS 

The advance of the cotton manufacturing industry in the 
United States, as well as in European countries, has been rapid 
during the last half century. The period has been one of great 
industrial and commercial expansion under the influence of 
world-wide forces. In spite of numerous years of depression, 
it has been a period of great prosperity. Notwithstanding 
high protective tariffs, it has been an era of voluminous inter- 
national trade. Improvements in means of transportation 
and communication have fostered commerce and widened mar- 
kets. Yet within each country peculiar economic conditions 
have been encountered, and to these the cotton manufacturing 
industry had to be adapted. Consequently the history of that 
industry is primarily a study of adaptation. 

In the United States the economic conditions have been 
continually changing; hence the industry has been almost 
constantly in a state of transition. This has been manifested 
most clearly, perhaps, in the progress of the industry in the 
southern states, and the reaction upon the older manufacturing 
sections. But taking the country as a whole, the problem to 
which the manufacturers have had to devote the greatest atten- 
tion has been the reduction of labor cost. Face to face with a 
high wage level in all industries, the owners of cotton mills have 
been forced to find means whereby they could employ as little 
labor and as cheap labor as possible, and yet assure the work- 
men of an income sufficiently high to induce them to accept the 
employment. To economize in quantity of labor the manu- 
facturers have adopted new types of machinery and automatic 
devices of various sorts which necessitated the minimum of 
attention from the operatives. To utilize the cheapest labor, 
the immigrants, those mechanical appliances which required the 

least skill on the part of the workmen were introduced. 

386 



CONCLUSIONS 387 

The relatively high cost for labor has been partially counter- 
balanced and the burden of the overhead expense lightened by 
the enlargement of the scale of production and the standard- 
ization of product. The limits to which the former can profit- 
ably be carried at the present time are indicated by the poor 
success of the combinations of competing firms. The integration 
of coordinate branches, except spinning and weaving, has as 
yet not progressed far. 

The success of the industry as a whole has also been depen- 
dent upon the entrepreneur ability of the men who have been 
responsible for its direction. The influence of efficiency in plant 
organization and factory management is most plainly shown 
in the relative prosperity of the individual companies. Practi- 
cally every type of machine that has been invented is available 
to each manufacturer, since the acceptance of new inventions 
depends upon the appreciation of the benefits to be derived 
therefrom. But systems of organization are less tangible, more 
personal, and therefore more heterogeneous. Although no less 
fundamental than proper technical equipment, particularly in 
large scale enterprises, first class managing ability is less easily 
obtained. 

The cotton goods manufactured in the United States up to 
the present time have been destined principally for the domestic 
market. That market has been constantly expanding, yet it 
has been fairly homogeneous. The methods of selling have been 
adjusted to the amount of financial assistance needed by the 
manufacturers, the length of credit required by the customers, 
and the difficulties in securing the orders for the cloth. As the 
market has become more diversified, a new middleman, the 
merchant-converter, who assumes the risk in the selection of 
finish and design, has arisen. The export trade, in the meanwhile, 
has not received consistent attention and the special arrange- 
ments necessary for carrying on such business have not been 
fully developed. 

The growth of the export trade depends upon the power of 
the American industry to meet its European competitors in 
neutral markets. The American manufacturers are not espe- 



388 THE COTTON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 

daily favored by geographical conditions. Although the rela- 
tively long inland haul somewhat handicaps the French and 
Germans in procuring raw cotton, the Lancashire manufac- 
turers do not pay a freight rate appreciably higher than the 
rate to New England. In purchasing the fibre in the southern 
United States, moreover, merchants of all nationalities are on 
an equal footing. That market is open to the world and the 
highest bidder secures the cotton which he desires. 

Climatic conditions are the most favorable in Lancashire, 
and that natural advantage has not been completely overcome 
elsewhere by means of artifical humidifiers. In Lancashire, 
also, good coal can be obtained at a lower cost than in the other 
cotton manufacturing districts of Europe and the United States. 
Yet the American manufacturers obtain their fuel cheaper than 
the French and the Germans. 

The Lancashire operatives are the most skilled cotton mill 
workers in the world, and their skill has been a powerful factor 
in the advance of the cotton industry in that country. This 
is in marked contrast with the labor situation in the United 
States, where in New England many untrained immigrants have 
invaded the mills, and in the South equally untrained persons 
of native birth have been employed. The Continental manufac- 
turers, however, are not provided with a relatively greater supply 
of skilled workmen than is available in America. Earnings are 
somewhat higher in America than in England, and in the latter 
country than on the Continent. Yet the output per laborer 
varies in approximately the same ratio as earnings. Hence 
for the manufacture of coarse or medium plain cloth, the labor 
cost is probably no higher in America, and the difference for any 
but the finest and most fancy goods is not great. 

The contrasts in technical equipment are due to differences 
in labor conditions, industrial organization, and market demands. 
In the American mills the equipment has been adapted to the 
needs of the manufacturers, and is in no wise inferior to the 
European. 

Specialization has been carried farther in Lancashire than 
in other countries, as a result of local concentration and market 



CONCLUSIONS 3 8 9 

opportunities. Yet the scale of production, particularly by the 
combination of spinning and weaving, is as large in America, 
and in the production of large quantities of standardized goods 
America is rivalled only by the spinning mills of Lancashire. 
The smaller Continental mills accept little orders for diverse 
fabrics, a practice that would be very unprofitable on this side 
of the Atlantic. 

The domestic trade in America, England, Germany, France, 
and Switzerland conforms to the local conditions in each case. 
But for exporting cotton yarn and cloth the Manchester system 
excels all others. The large German export houses, allied with 
banking interests, can promote German trade, and the German 
manufacturers of specialties which are sold to American mer- 
chants are met upon their own ground by agents and buyers 
seeking to purchase their wares. Yet, as previously stated, 
no other country has a cotton goods export trade organized on 
as broad and as efficient lines as the English. 

The building up of an export trade system is probably the 
greatest problem to be encountered in the attempt to expand 
the sales of American cotton goods in other parts of the world. 
An export market of large dimensions is not to be sought in the 
countries provided with numerous factories, but in neutral 
territories. The competition which American exporters will 
find most severe is the English. Yet there seems to be no reason 
why the American producers should not successfully meet that 
rivalry in various grades of goods. Nevertheless an actual 
decline or even cessation of expansion of the cotton manufac- 
turing industry in any of the countries here considered is not to 
be expected. The question is, in which will it advance most 
rapidly ? The answer, indicated by the converging lines of this 
study, is that unless thwarted by now unforeseen obstacles 
England and the United States have the fairest promise for the 
future. 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 

Prices 



Middling Regular 

Cotton Print Cloth 

(cents lb.) (cents yard) 

1880 11.51 4-5 1 

1881 12.03 3.95 

1882 H.56 3.76 

1883 H.88 3.60 

1884 10.88 3.36 

1885 IO.45 3-!2 

1886 9.28 3.3I 

1887 I0.2I 3.33 

1888 10.03 3-8i 

1889 10.65 3.81 

1890 11.07 3-34 

1891 8.60 2.95 

1892 7-71 3-39 

1893 8.56 3.30 

1894 6.94 2.75 

1895 7-44 2.86 

1896 7-93 2.60 

1897 7. 2.48 

1898 5.94 2.06 

1899 6 - 88 2.69 

1900 9.25 3.21 

1901 8.75 2.84 

1902 9. 3.1 1 

1903 11. 18 3.25 

1904 "-75 3-44 

1905 ...... 9.80 3-13 

1906 11.50 3.63 

1907 12.10 4.62 

1908 10.62 3.50 

1909 12.68 3.67 

1910 15. 11 3-87 



Standard 

Prints 
(cents yard) 


Sheetings 
(cents 
yard) 


Drillings 
(cents 
yard) 


Bleached 

Shirtings 

(cents yard) 


7.41 


8.51 


8.51 


12.74 


7- 


8.51 


8.06 


12.74 


6-5 


8-45 


8.25 


12.95 


6. 


8.32 


7-II 


12.93 


6. 


7.28 


6.86 


IO.46 


6. 


6-75 


6.36 


IO.37 


6. 


6-75 


6.25 


IO.65 


6. 


7-iS 


6.58 


10.88 


6-5 


7.25 


6.75 


IO.94 


6.5 


7- 


6.75 


IO.50 


6. 


7- 


6.75 


IO.90 


6. 


6.83 


6.41 


IO.64 


6.25 


6.50 


5.60 


IO.25 


5.25 


5-90 


5-72 


9-75 


4.9 


5-n 


5.o7 


9-5o 


5.25 


5-74 


5.69 


9-85 


4.66 


5-45 


548 


9-5o 


4-7 


4-73 


4-75 


9-25 


3-96 


4.20 


4.10 


8. 


4.25 


5.28 


S-i3 


9-5o 


5- 


6.05 


5-95 


io.75 


4.62 


5-54 


548 


10.25 


5- 


5-48 


5-52 


10.50 


5- 


6.25 


6-37 


10.75 


5- 


7.13 


7-3i 


10.50 


4-75 


7- 


7- 


9- 


5.12 


7.25 


7-37 


10.93 


6. 


7.62 


7.62 


13- 


5-37 


6-75 


7-i5 


n-54 


5.06 


7-37 


7.SO 


11-45 


5.62 


7.87 


8. 


12. 



393 



394 



APPENDIX 



Margin 

{between the price of 8 lbs. of middling cotton and the price of the corresponding 
quantity of print cloth) 



1881 108.52 

1882 99.73 



1883 . . 

1884 . . 

1885 . . 

1886 . . 
1887... 

1888 113.09 

1889 108.14 

1890 85.92 



85-79 
87.89 

85-93 
97-57 
92.58 



1891 96.90 

1892 118. 10 

1893 92.69 

1894 102.47 



189S 
1896 
1897 
1898 
1899 
1900 



96.74 
74.21 
77.61 
64.90 
70.84 
81. 



70.38 
80.75 
66.46 
66.18 
70.66 



1901 . . 

1902 . . 

1903 • • 

1904 . . 

1905 . . 

1906 74-44 

1907 106.48 

1908 82.69 

1909 64.90 

1910 59-24 



























AVERAGE PRICES - 


New Yorl 


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Middling Cotton 
Drillings 














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Bleached Shirtings 

Sheetings 

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— *. — •> _*. ^Standard Prints 














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i900 



1905 



1910 



APPENDIX 



395 



Dividend 

Company Capital 

American Linen $800,000 

Amory 1 ,350,000 

900,000 

Amoskeag 4,000,000 

5,760,000 

Androscoggin 1,000,000 

Appleton 600,000 

450,000 

Atlantic 1,000,000 

Barnard 330,000 

495,000 

Bates 1 ,000,000 

1,200,000 

Boott 1,200,000 

1,000,000 

Border City 1,000,000 

Boston 800,000 

400,000 

Boston Duck 350,000 

Bourne 400,000 

1,000,000, 
Cabot 600,000 

800,000 
Chace 500,000 

750,000 

900,000 
Chicopee 1 ,000,000 

500,000 

Cocheco 1 ,500,000 

Conanicut 120,000 

300,000 

Continental 1,500,000 

Cornell 400,000 

Dartmouth 600,000 

Davol 300,000 

400,000 

500,000 

Dwight 1,200,000 

Edwards 750,000 

1,100,000 

Flint 580,000 

Granite 400,000 

800,000 

1,000,000 

Great Falls 1,500,000 



Record 

Average Dividend 
6.6% for 20 yrs. 
7.9 " 12 " 



6. 

n-5 

16. 
8.6 
1.9 

8.2 

3-3 
6.8 

5-3 

9- 
"•3 

4- 

4-7 
10.8 

2.6 

o. 
13. 
15-8 

4- 

6. 

3-i 
11. 1 
6.1 
7-i 
3-7 
4.4 
1. 

5-8 
4.4 

0.5 

7.2 

30-7 
8. 

7-i 

6. 
12. 

7.2 

7- 

7-4 
15-3 

9- 

6.4 

9-5 



5 
18 

2 
20 
10 
10 
20 

6 
14 

4 
16 

17 

3 

20 

14 

6 

20 

IS 

5 

5 

IS 
10 

7 

3 

16 

4 
20 

15 
5 

20 

18 

11 

2 

17 

1 
20 

5 

15 
20 

4 
1 

15 
20 



Surplus 
$191,792 (1908) 



3,720,691 (1907) 
1,123,863 " 



l>376,36l (1907) 
107,266 (1908) 



233,578(1908) 
902,105 (1907) 



105,042 (1908) 



139,804 (1908) 



361,857(1908) 
960,000 " 



396 



APPENDIX 



Dividend Record 

Company Capital 

Hamilton $1,800,000 

Hargraves 400,000 

800,000 

Hill 1 ,000,000 

Jackson 600,000 

King Philip 1,000,000 

Laconia . , 1,000,000 

Lancaster 1,200,000 

Laurel Lake 400,000 

200,000 

300,000 
Lawrence 1 ,500,000 

750,000 
1,250,000 

Lockwood 1,800,000 

Lyman 1,470,000 

Manchester 2,000,000 

Massachusetts 1,800,000 

Mechanics 750,000 

Merchants 800,000 

Merrimack 2,500,000 

2,750,000 

Narragansett 400,000 

Nashua 1,000,000 

Naumkeag 1,500,000 

Osborn 600,000 

750,000 

Otis 800,000 

Pacific 2,500,000 

3,000,000 

Pepperell 1,200,000 

2,556,000 
Pocasset 800,000 

600,000 

Richard Borden 800,000 

Sagamore 900,000 

Salmon Falls 600,000 

Seaconnett 400,000 

600,000 

Shove 550,000 

Stafford 800,000 

1,000,000 

Tecumseh 500,000 

Thorndike 45°,°° 

675,000 



{continued) 

Average Dividend 
4.5%for 2oyrs. 



5-4 

3-2 
6.1 
9.4 
8.2 
4-3 
6.3 
1.9 

9-7 
8. 
19. 
6.7 

5-2 

3-9 

5- 

5-7 

4.6 

5-2 

5-7 

2.9 

6.2 

8.2 

3-8 

7-7 

4.1 

10. 

12.4 

14.5 
18. 

25. 

13-3 
5-3 
7-1 
9.1 

3-3 
8.6 

4- 

5-8 

7-8 

5- 

7- 

9- 



" 1 

" 19 

" 20 

" 20 

" 20 

" 10 

" 20 

" 9 

" 2 

" 9 

" 8 

" 5 

" 7 

" 20 

" 20 

" i7 

" 20 

" 20 

" 20 

" 12 

" 8 

" 20 

" 20 

" 20 

" i3 

" 7 

" 20 

" 12 

" 8 

" 11 

" 9 

" 6 

" 14 

" 20 

" 20 

" 20 

" 6 

" 14 

" 20 

" 8 

" 12 

" 20 

' 13 
7 



Surplus 



$871,083(1908) 



787,000 (1907} 



1,431,690 (1908) 
288,967 " 
ni,3°5 " 



142,220 (1908) 
943,522 (1907) 
218,939 (1908) 

6,332,854 (1907) 
1,628,427 (1907) 

188,716 (1908) 
468,024 " 
348,763 " 



a 



APPENDIX 



397 



Dividend Record {continued) 

Average Dividend 
12.5% for 4 yrs. 



" 7 " 


9 


" 20 " 


" 11 " 


« 9 « 


" 20 " 


" 20 " 


" 20 " 


" 20 " 



Surplus 

$366,529 (1908) 
572,544 (1908) 



Company Capital 

Tremont and Suffolk $1,200,000 

1,500,000 12. 1 

2,000,000 3. 

Troy 300,000 24.3 

Union 750,000 15.5 

1,200,000 11. 

Wampanoag 750,000 4.9 

Wamsutta 3,000,000 6.2 

Weetamoe 550,000 ^-3 

York 900,000 5.8 



In computing the average dividend the records of New Bedford mills were 
utilized, but they were furnished privately without permission to publish. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The books listed below are those to which reference is made in 
the text. Many others have been consulted and suggestions ob- 
tained therefrom, but inasmuch as a comprehensive bibliography 
of publications relating to the cotton industry was recently pub- 
lished by Mr. C. J. H. Woodbury, it has been deemed unneces- 
sary to give an extensive list here. 

I GENERAL WORKS 
A United States 

Arkwright Club. By-Laws. Boston, 1884. 

Bagnall, W. R. Textile Industries of the United States. Cambridge, 1893. 
Only volume I, covering the period from 163 9-1 8 10, was issued. It is a 
compilation of facts in chronological order rather than a scientific treatise. 

Batchelder, S. Early Progress of the Cotton Manufacture. Boston, 1863. 
A brief, suggestive survey of the history of the American cotton manu- 
facturing industry during the first half of the nineteenth century, written 
by a man who was long engaged in managing cotton mills. 

Bishop, J. L. History of American Manufactures. Philadelphia, 1868. 
Another compilation of facts, put together so as to form a connected 
account but without critical analysis. 

Blue Book Textile Directory. New York, 191 1. 

Commercial and Financial Chronicle. New York. Weekly. 

Cowley, R. History of Lowell. Lowell, 1868. 

Dockham's Textile Directory. Boston. Biennial. 

Earl, H. H. History of Fall River. New York, 1877. 

Earle, A. M. Home Life in Colonial Days. New York, 1898. 

Hammond, M. B. The Cotton Industry. Publications of the American 
Economic Association. New York, 1897. Concerned primarily with 
the history of cotton growing and marketing. 

Helm, E. An International Survey of the Cotton Industry. Quarterly 
Journal of Economics, vol. xvii. Boston, 1903. 

International Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' 
Associations. Reports of annual congresses. Manchester. In these 
reports various topics are discussed, such as the means of increasing the 
production of cotton in parts of the world outside of the United States, 
the progress of manufacturers' associations, insurance, methods of baling 
and selling raw cotton, etc. Technical methods of manufacturing are 
not mentioned. 

Kettle, T., Editor. Eighty Years' Progress. New York, 1864. 

Kohn, A. Cotton Mills of South Carolina. Columbia, 1907. 

3Q8 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 399 

Manufacturers' Record. Baltimore. Weekly. 

Mason, F. R. American Silk Industry and the Tariff. Publications of the 
American Economic Association. Cambridge, 1910. 

Miles, H. A. Lowell as it was and as it is. Lowell, 1847. 

Montgomery, J. Cotton Manufacture. Glasgow, 1840. A discriminating 
report on the status of American cotton manufacturing at that date, with 
comparisons between British and American practices and conditions. 
Mr. Montgomery had managed mills in both countries. 

Murphy, E. G. The Present South. New York, 1904. 

New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, Transactions. 

National Association of Cotton Manufacturers, Transactions. Boston. 
Semi-annual. 1865-1911. The second of these associations is a con- 
tinuation of the first. The reports of the meetings have steadily in- 
creased in volume, and contain much valuable data, particularly on the 
technical development and mill management. 

Professional and Industrial History of Suffolk County (Mass.) . Boston, 1 894 . 

Taussig, F. W. Tariff History of the United States. 6th ed., New York, 
1905. One chapter is devoted entirely to the early history of American 
cotton manufacturing, and the history of the duties on cotton products 
in all the tariff acts is traced. 

textile World Record. Boston. Monthly. 

Textile World Record, Directory of the American Knitting Trade. Boston, 
1907. 

Textile World Record, Textile Directory. Boston. Annual. 

Thompson, H. From Cotton Field to Cotton Mill. New York, 1906. An 
unbiassed study of the cotton manufacturing industry in the southern 
states. 

United States Census. In i860 and 1870 fairly reliable statistics on manu- 
facturing were collected for the Census, and since 1880 a special report 
on the cotton industry has been included in each decennial Census and 
in the quinquennial Census of 1905. In no other country have such 
thorough and comprehensive industrial Censuses been made or such 
complete reports prepared. 

United States Congressional Documents. 

United States Congressional Record. 

United States Industrial Commission. Report. 19 vols., 1901. 

United States Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance. March, 1900. 
In addition to the regular compilation of statistics, this number con- 
tained a special report on the cotton trade. 

United States Statistical A bstract. 

Uttley, T. A. Cotton Spinning. Manchester, 1905. Mr. Uttley, an 
English student, visited several mills in the northern and southern 
states and in this book presents the facts which he ascertained. Its 
value lies in its collection of first hand information. 

Weeden, W. B. Economic and Social History of New England. 2 vols., 
Boston, 1890. The fruits of a diligent search amongst colonial records 
of all sorts. Arrangement at times faulty and statements occasionally 
conflicting. 



400 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

White, G. S. Memoir of Samuel Slater. Philadelphia, 1836. 

Wright, C. W. Wool Growing and the Tariff. Harvard Economic Studies. 
Boston, iqio. 

Young, T. M. American Cotton Industry. London, 1902. The author is 
an Englishman who here presents the results of observations made during 
a tour of the cotton manufacturing districts of the United States. The 
comparisons of British and American methods, conditions, and wages 
are numerous and valuable. 

B Great Britain 

Ashley, W. J., Editor. British Industries. London, 1903. A collection 
of articles on various industries. The subject of the cotton industry- 
is handled by Mr. E. Helm. 

British Census of Production, 1907. Preliminary Tables. London, 1910. 
The first industrial Census undertaken in Great Britain. The replies 
to some of the questions were optional with the manufacturers, and the 
scheme not as far reaching as that of the United States Census. 

British Parliamentary Papers. 

Chapman, S. J. The Lancashire Cotton Industry. Manchester, 1904. A 
history of cotton manufacturing in Lancashire. 

Cox, H., Editor. British Industries under Free Trade. London, 1904. A 
series of articles on the history and present position of the chief British 
industries, each written by a person intimately connected with the trade. 

Economist. London. Weekly. 

Levi, L. History of British Commerce. London, 1880. 

Macrosty, H. W. Trust Movement in British Industry. London, 1907. 
A broad survey worked up with careful attention to detail. 

Ogden, J. Manchester One Hundred Years Ago. Reprint edited by W. E. 
Axon. Manchester, 1887. 

Whittam, W. , Jr. Report on England's Cotton Industry. Washington, 1 907 . 
The report of one of the special agents employed by the United States 
Department of Commerce and Labor to study foreign industries. Largely 
original, but does not cover the subject thoroughly. 

Worrall, J. The Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Directory for Lanca- 
shire. Annual. Oldham, 191 1. 

C Germany 

Bremen Baumwoll-Borse. Verzeichnis der Baumwoll-S pinner eien in 
Deutschland, Oesterreich, Schweitz, u.s.w. Bremen, 1909. 

Clark, W. A. G. Cotton Fabrics in Middle Europe. Washington, 1908. 
The report of another special agent of the United States Department of 
Commerce and Labor. 

Festschrift zur 39 Hauptversammlung des Vereines Deutscher Ingenieurer. 
Chemnitz, 1898. 

Greif , W. Die geschichtliche Entwicklung der Limbacher Wirkwar en-Indus- 
trie. Karlsruhe, 1907. Limbach is located in the Chemnitz district. 
This book not only traces the historical development of the knitting 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 401 

industry in Limbach, but describes the present organization, the preva- 
lent methods, and the domestic system. 

Kuntze, K. Die Baumwoll-industrie, in Band III of Handbuch der Wirt- 
schafts-kunde Deutschlands. Leipzig, 1904. 

V Industrie de Mulhouse au XlXieme Steele. Mulhouse, 1902. A compen- 
dious record of the industrial development of Mulhouse (or Miilhausen) . 
Amongst other things it contains statistics of wages in the cotton industry. 

Lochmuller, W. Zur Entwicklung der Baumwoll-industrie in Deutschland. 
Jena, 1906. A brief history of the German cotton industry. 

Martin, R. Der wirtschaftliche Aufschwung der Baumwollspinnereien im 
Konigreiche Sachsen. Jahrbuchfiir Gesetzgebung, 1893. 

Oppel, A. Die Baumwolle. Leipzig, 1902. Voluminous. By undertaking 
to cover the whole field of cotton growing and manufacturing in all parts 
of the world, the author has had to rely on secondary sources and is rather 
superficial throughout. 

Rieger, W. Verzeichnis der auf Baumwolle laufenden Spindeln und Web- 
stiihle Deutschlands. Edition 1909. Stuttgart. Gives the number of 
spindles and looms and the nature of the product of each cotton mill in 
Germany. 

Statistik des Deutschen Reichs. Berlin, 1875, 1882, 1895, 1907. An official 
periodical publication in which the results of the German Censuses are 
published. Although an industrial Census was taken in 1907 the com- 
plete tables had not been issued in November, 1910. The terms em- 
ployed in this Census are sometimes used in a special sense, as for example 
" Betriebe," which is used for " department " rather than " establish- 
ment." 

Tschierschky, S. Die Zollpolitischen Inter essen der Deutschen Textilvered- 
lungsindustrie. Berlin, 1902. 

D Other Countries 

Ame, L. Les Tarifs de Douanes. 2 vols. Paris, 1876. The writer was in 
sympathy with the movement for the liberation of commerce culminat- 
ing in the Cobden Treaty of i860, and one of his aims was to show that 
French industry benefited rather than suffered from the lowering of the 
tariff wall. 

Beaumont, G. U Industrie Cotonniere en Normandie. Paris, 1901. 

Enquete sur VEtat de V Industrie Textile. 5 vols., Paris, 1905. The report 
of an official investigation of labor conditions in the French textile 
industries. 

Lecomte, H. Le Coton. Paris, 1900. 

Lederlin, A. U Industrie Cotonniere. Epinal, 1905. A brief monograph 
on the cotton industry in the Vosges. 

Mairet, P. La Crise de V Industrie Cotonniere (1901-05). Dijon, 1906. 
His conclusions in regard to the tariff and the services of the middlemen 
are open to criticism. 

Annuario Statistico Italiano. Annual. 

La Belgique, 18JO-IQ05. Brussels, 1905. A government publication, 
elaborate in style, tracing the development of Belgium since 1830. 



4-02 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Besso, S. L. The Cotton Industry in Switzerland, Vorarlberg, and Italy. 
Manchester, 1910. The writer, an English student, made an exhaustive 
personal investigation of numerous cotton mills in these countries. The 
book is noteworthy for method of treatment and attention to detail. 

II TECHNIQUE 

Allen, A. H. Commercial Organic Analysis, vol. iii. Philadelphia, 1900. 

Appleton, N. Introduction of the Power Loom. . Lowell, 1858. 

Baird, R. H. American Cotton Spinner. Philadelphia, 1851. 

Barker, A. F. Textiles. London, 1910. A good summary of the technical 
processes employed in each textile industry. 

Bean, P., & Scarisbrick, F. The Chemistry and Practice of Sizing. Man- 
chester, 1906. A standard technical work. 

Centennial Exhibition, 1876. Reports and Awards, vol. iii. Philadelphia. 

Cyclopedia of Textile Work. American Technical Society. Chicago, 1907. 
Complete technical description of all branches of the textile industry. 

Die Fachschulen fur die Textil-industrie Deutschlands. 3d ed., Berlin, 1904. 
A list of the German textile schools with a statement of their courses. 

Draper, G. O. Textile Texts. 2d ed., Hopedale, Massachusetts, 1903. 

Felkin, W. History of Machine-Wrought Hosiery and Lace Manufactures, 
London, 1867. A history of inventions and processes with some informa- 
tion concerning industrial organization. The only complete work on 
the subject, but now out of date. 

Heylin, H. B. Cotton Weaver's Handbook. London, 1908. 

Higgins, S. H. Dyeing in Germany and America. Manchester, 1907. The 
report of an English student on American and German dye-works. 

International Library of Technology. Cotton Pickers, Cotton Cards, etc. 
Scranton, 1906. 

Journal of Franklin Institute, 1845. Philadelphia. 

Lehmann, M. Jahrbuch und Kalendar fur die gesamte Baumwoll-Industrie, 
vol. xxxii. Leipzig, 1911. Annual. 

Marsden, R. Cotton Weaving. London, 1895. 

Martin, J. G. Stock Fluctuations. Boston. Annual. 

Mortier, A. Le Tricot et V Industrie de la Bonneterie. Troyes, 1891. 

Nasmith, J. Recent Cotton Mill Construction. Manchester, 1894. 

Nasmith, J. & F. Recent Cotton Mill Construction. 3d ed., Manchester, 
1909. An excellent text-book on cotton mill engineering. 

Sansone, A. Recent Progress in Dyeing and Calico Printing. 3 vols., Man- 
chester, 1895. 

Scott, R. W. Evolution of the Knit-Goods Industry. Reprint of an article in 
the Textile Manufacturer's Journal, December 28, 1907. 

Textile Manufacturer's Journal. New York. Weekly. 

Textile World Record. Boston. Monthly. 

Webber, S. Manual of Power. New York, 1879. The second part con- 
tains a history of the technical development of the American cotton 
industry up to that time. 

Zipser, J. Textile Raw Materials and their Conversion into Yarn. Trans- 
lated by C. Slater. London, 1901. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 403 



III LABOR 



Abbott, E. A Study of the Early History of Child Labor in America. Ameri- 
can Journal of Sociology, vol. xiv. 1908. 

Bowley, A. L. Wages in the United Kingdom in the Nineteenth Century. 
Cambridge, England, 1900. One chapter is devoted to the cotton 
industry. 

British Board of Trade, Labor Department, Report on Wages and Hours of 
Labor. 1894. 

British Board of Trade, Report on Wages and the Cost of Living in Germany. 
London, 1908. 

British Board of Trade, Report on Wages and the Cost of Living in France. 
London, 1909. These two reports cover numerous employments in 
various cities in each of the countries. The data were collected from the 
employers and the workmen, and the statements of earnings and budgets 
are fully representative. 

Lincoln, J. T. Fall River Sliding Scale. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 
vol. xxiii. Boston, 1909. 

Martineau, H. Society in America. 3 vols., New York, 1837. 

Massachusetts Bureau of the Statistics of Labor. Annual Reports. 

Massachusetts Bureau of the Statistics of Labor. Bulletins. These reports 
and bulletins contain information on labor conditions and laws, trade 
unions, and wages. The wages stated are not always representative, 
since the number of operatives included is not always given and several of 
the most important occupations are frequently omitted. 

Muller, O. Die christliche Gewerkschafts-bewegung Deutschlands. Karls- 
ruhe, 1905. 

Persons, C. E., Parton, M., and Moses, M. Labor Laws and their Enforce- 
ment. Studies in the Ecpnomic Relations of Women, vol. ii. Boston, 1911. 

Robinson, H. H. Loom knd Spindle. New York, 1898. An account of 
factory life in Lowell (Juring the first half of the nineteenth century. 

Towles, J. K. Factory Legislation of Rhode Island. Publications of the 
American Economic Association, 1908. 

United States Commissioner of Labor. Annual Reports. Washington. 
Special mention may be made of the 17th annual report, the subject of 
which is Technical Education, and the Report on the Conditions of Woman 
and Child Labor, vol. i. 1910. 

United States Department of Labor. Bulletins. 

Webb, Sidney and Beatrice. Industrial Democracy. London, 1897. 

Webb, Sidney and Beatrice. Trade Unionism. London, 1894. 

Wood, G. H. History of Wages in the Cotton Trade. London, 1910. A 
reprint from the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. This study is 
somewhat more exhaustive than Bowley's and might well serve as a model 
for an investigation of the history of wages in the American industry. 



404 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

IV MARKETS 
A Raw Cotton 

Boston Board of Trade. Annual Reports. 

Brooks, C. P. Cotton. London, 1898. 

Ellison, T. Cotton Trade of Great Britain. London, 1886. 

Ellison, T. Gleanings and Reminiscences. Liverpool, 1905. These two 
books are concerned chiefly with the history and organization of the 
Liverpool Cotton Exchange. 

Homans, J. S. Cyclopedia of Commerce. New York, 1859. 

Shepperson, A. B. Cotton Facts. New York. Annual. A reliable collec- 
tion of statistics regarding the cotton crop and the cotton market. 

United States Commissioner of Corporations. Report on Cotton Exchanges. 
3 vols., Washington, 1908-09. The report of an investigation of the 
methods of carrying on business on the cotton exchanges in the United 
States, and a criticism of certain features of the New York Exchange. 

United States Senate, Report of Committee on Cotton Growers. 1895. 

B Cloth Market and Foreign Trade 

Appleton, N. Memoir of Abbott Lawrence. Boston, 1856. 
v Boston Advertiser. Daily. 

Bowen, A. Picture of Boston. Boston, 1829. 

Depew, C. M., Editor. One Hundred Years of American Commerce. 2 vols. 
New York, 1895. Volume ii has an article by J. N. Beach on the dry 
goods trade. 

Flint, J. Letters from America. Edinburgh, 1822. 

Hill, H. A. Memoir of Abbott Lawrence. Boston, 1883. 

Hunt, F. Lives of American Merchants. 2 vols., New York, 1858. 

Hunt's Merchants' Magazine. New York. 

Lawrence, W. Life of Amos Lawrence. Boston, 1888. 

Loeben, M. G. von. Der Absatz der Plauener Spitzen nach den Vereinigten 
Staaten. Dresden, 1905. 
\ Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York. Annual Reports. 
'" Niles' Weekly Register. Baltimore. 

Report of Mr. Sturgis's Committee to twenty-eight Manufacturing Companies. 
Boston, 1852. The report of a committee appointed to investigate the 
conditions in the cloth market. 

Tompkins, D. A. Cotton Mill — Commercial Features. Charlotte, N. C, 
1899. 

Morse, H. B. Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire. London, 
1908. 
" United States Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Manufac- 
turers, Foreign Markets for American Cotton Manufactures. Washing- 
ton, 1907. 

United States Consular Reports. 

Kinley, D. Promotion of Trade with South America. American Economic 
Review. Boston, 191 1. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 405 



V TARIFF 



Report of Tariff Commission, 1882. 
Report on Revision of the Tariff, 1886. 
Tariff Hearings, 1893. 
Tariff Hearings, 1896-97. 
Tariff Hearings, 1908-09. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Africa, as market, 222. 
Agents: 

American in Germany, 378; in Paris, 

384. 
Raw cotton, in Germany, 358; in 

France, 360. 
Yarn and cloth, in England, 362-365, 
370-3-/2; in France 382-383; in 
Germany, 374-376; in Switzerland, 
384. (See also Commission agents, 
and Selling house.) 
Almy and Brown, 194, 195. 
American Cotton Manufacturers' Asso- 
ciation, 156. 
American Thread Company, 169-170, 

34i. 
Arkwright Club, 157-159, 171. 
Asia, as market, 222, 223. 
Auctions, Boston, 198-200; New York, 

201-204; disadvantage of, 208. 
Austria, employers' associations, 337. 
Automatic feeder, 57, 58. 
Automatic loom, 84-89. (See also 

Northrop loom.) 

Bale breaker, 56, 312. 

Barber knotter, 75, 301, 314. 

Barber warp-tying machine, 81. 

Barmen, trade, 380-381. 

Batchelder, Samuel, statement of relative 

costs in i860, 11. 
Beaming, 76-77, 314. 
Belgium, small mills, 326; employers' 

association, 337. 
Bleachers' Association, 342. 
Bleaching, 94, 152, 204, 328. 
Blower, 56, 57. 
Bobbins, freight on, 69, 72. 
Bohemia, small mills, 325-326. 
Boston, auctions in, 198-200; early 



market, 196-197, 200; offices of treas- 
urers in, 177. 

Bremen cotton market, 357-359. 

British Cotton Growing Association, 
334- 

British Cotton and Wool Dyers' Asso- 
ciation, 343-344. 

Brokers, cloth, 215-216, 364; English, 
take stock, 317-318, 355; Havre, 360; 
Liverpool, 354. 

Brooklands agreement, 307. 

Buyers, American, in Europe, 370, 373, 
378-381,384. 

Calenders, 98. 

Calico Printers' Association, 342-343. 
Canada, as market, 221-223. 
Cancellations, 213-215; of foreign orders, 

227. 
Capital, dearth at outset, 3; greater 

supply in North, 182; for southern 

mills, 49-50; supplied by merchants, 

4-5, 196; worthlessness of Census 

statistics for, 17-18. 
Capitalization, 262-264. 
Card, 59-61, 99, 313. 
Card tender, wages, 296-297. 
Cart wright loom, 83. 
Chemnitz, 279, 280, 347, 350-351; 

knitting machinery, 108; market, 

378-38o. 
Child labor, 113; before i860, 12; in 

ring spinning, 70; in South, 42-45. (Seo 

also Labor.) 
China, as market, 224-226, 229, 230. 
Circular knitting machines, 103, 104, 

108; in Europe, 348. 
Climatic conditions, 285; in France, 282, 

283; in Germany, 280; in Lancashire, 

93, 276; in New Bedford, 30, 149. 



4io 



INDEX 



Cloth, tariff duties, 239-252. 

Coal, cost in England, 276; in France, 
281, 282; in Germany, 278-280; in 
New England, 286; freight rates on, 
to southern New England, 29; in 
South, 38. 

Coal tar dyes, 95, 96. 

Coats, J. and P., 339~34i- 

Comber, 61-62, 99. 

Commission, cloth broker, 216; Eng- 
lish agents, 364; French agents, 360, 
382-384; German agents, 358, 375, 
376,381; Havre brokers, 360; Liver- 
pool brokers, 354; selling agents, 196, 
198, 210; Swiss agents, 384. 

Commission agent, early, 194-195; Ger- 
many, 380-381; Paris, 384. (See also 
Selling house.) 

Commission exporter, 230. 

Commission importer, 232-233. 

Commissioner of Corporations, Report 
on Cotton Exchanges, 184-185. 

Community of interest, 159-160. 

Compress, 37. 

Consignment trade, 232; southern cloth, 
210-211; imports, 378-379, 381. 

Consolidated Cotton Duck Company, 
161-166, 172. 

Construction, cost of, 262-263, 317. 

Continent, cotton consumed, 21; hand 
loom, 90-91; hand warper, 76; North- 
rop loom, 92-93; retarding influences, 
7. (See also names of countries.) 

Converter, in America, 206, 216-217; 
in England, 365-367; in France, 383; 
in Germany, 376-377* 3^5- 

Converting, 56, 94-98, 151-152, 3 J 4~ 
315, 33*-332; in England, 328, 331; 
in France, 330-331; in Germany, 330, 
33I.376. 

Cost determination, in England, 319- 
320. 

Cotton, raw, ch. x, xxi; British Cotton 
Growing Association, 334; consumed 
per spindle, 20; domestic consump- 
tion, 179; freight rates on, in England, 
285; in France, 281-282; in Germany, 
280; ocean, 284-285; in United States, 



286; purchase by southern mills, 37, 
38, 182-183; routes of shipment, 29, 
182, 186; short staple used in Eng- 
land, 72. 

Cotton knitting machine, 102, 108, 348. 

Credit, in foreign trade, 227, 230, 231, 
369, 377-38i; supplied by converter, 
217, 377; English agents, 364; Eng- 
lish merchants, 367-368; selling house, 
197, 204, 212. 

Creel, Fessmann-Hammerle, 75-76. 

Department stores, 218; as importers, 
233. (See also Buyers.) 

Designs, in America, 95, 139; in England, 
328, 366, 372; in France, 33Q-33 1 ; in 
Germany, 376. 

Direct selling, 173-174, 205, 207-208; 
in England, 362, 371; in France, 382- 
383; in Germany, 374, 375; in Switzer- 
land, 384; limits to, 211; stimulated 
by dissatisfaction with selling houses, 
211. 

Dividends, 263-264. 

Dobby, S3. 

Domestic system, 193-194, 325, 348-352. 

Doubling, in England, 328; in France, 
330; in Germany, 330. 

Draper Company, 85. 

Draper self-acting temple, 83. 

Drawing-frame, 62-63. 

Drawing-frame tender, wages, 297. 

Drawing-in, 81-82. 

Drying machinery, 97-98, 315. 

Duck combination, 1 61-165. 

Dyeing, 96-97, 152, 205; in China, 225; 
in England, 328. 

Egyptian cotton, sale of, 354-355. 360; 
used in America, 179. 

Electric drive, 315-316. 

England, employers' associations, 333- 
334; freight rates, 285; integration, 
344-345; knit-goods industry, 101- 
109, 346-347, 351-352; labor, condi- 
tions, 287-289; legislation, 290; unions, 
291-292; wages, 296-305; lace ex- 
ports to United States, 238; localiza- 



INDEX 



4 II 



tion, 276-277, 286; regulation of 
humidity, 93 ; scale of production, 92, 
230, 3i5> 320-323; separation of 
spinning and weaving, 72; short 
staple cotton used, 72; specialization, 
277, 326-329, 332; technical develop- 
ment, 58-99; textile education, 309- 
310. (See also Great Britain.) 
English Sewing Cotton Company, 340- 
341; control of American Thread 
Company, 237. 
Exchanges, Havre, 359-360; Liverpool, 
354-357; Manchester, 319, 361, 371; 
Mulhausen, 377; New York, 184- 
192; Stuttgart, 377. 
Exports, ch. xii. 

American, prior to i860, 15; in 1910, 
22; by countries, 222-226; char- 
acter of, 220; heavily sized cloth, 
80; methods, 226-231. 
English, cause of specialization, 327; 

methods, 368. 
French methods, 383-384. 
German methods, 377, 379-380. 

Fall River, 28, 29, 148; cloth brokers, 
215; first cotton mill, 194; labor 
unions, 123-127; manufacturers' asso- 
ciation, 156; print cloth pool, 206; 
selling direct, 205, 208; sliding wage 
scale, 131-133, 156; weaving piece 
rate, 130. 

Fall River Textile School, 137. 

Fessmann-Hammerle creel, 75-76. 

Fine Cotton Spinners' and Doublers' 
Association, 341-342, 359. 

Fine goods mills in North and South, 51. 

Finishing, 94-98, 151-152, S^S^Si 
33 I_ 332; in England, 328, 331; in 
France, 330, 331; in Germany, 330, 
331; in South, 37. 

Finishing machines for knit goods, 108- 
111; in Europe, 348-352. 

Fly-frames, 63. 

Fly-frame tenders, wages, 297-298. 

France, employers' associations, 336- 
337; exports to the United States, 
238, 239; growth of cotton industry, 



7, 19, 90; knit-goods industry, 102- 
103, 347-348, 352-353; labor legisla- 
tion, 290; unions, 293; wages, 296- 
304; location of mills, 280-283; North- 
rop loom, 92-93; scale of production, 
324-325; specialization, 282-283,330; 
textile education, 310-31 1. 

Freight rates, in England, 285; in France, 
281-285; in Germany, 280, 285; ocean, 
284-285; in New England, 29; in South, 
36, 37; in United States, 286. 

Friends of Domestic Industry, 6. 

Full-fashioned knit goods; manufacture, 
102-109; in Europe, 108, 348; tariff 
on, 258. 

Garment manufacturers, 217. 

Germany, coal tar dyes, 95, 99; comber, 
61; employers' associations, 334-336; 
export trade, 223, 377-380. (See also 
Buyers.) Exporters' supply credit, 
227, 369, 377-381; Fessmann-Ham- 
merle creel, 75; growth of industry, 7, 
19; hand loom, 90; knit goods ex- 
ported to United States, 253, 258, 
259; knit-goods industry, 108, 347- 
352; labor conditions, 289; legisla- 
tion, 290; unions, 292-293; wages, 
296-304; lace and embroideries ex- 
ported to United States, 238; location 
of mills, 277-280; manufacture of 
mixed goods, 269; scale of production, 
323-324; specialization, 279, 280,329- 
330; spindles in 1910, 275; textile 
education, 310; wearing apparel ex- 
ported to United States, 239. 

Great . Britain, advantages, 7 ; export 
trade, 223-225; in hosiery, 253-254; 
growth of industry, 7, 19, 20; spindles 
in 1910, 275-276. (See also England.) 

Hamburg, cotton market, 359; expor- 
ters, 377, 379. 

Hand knitting frame, use in England, 
108, 349. 

Hand loom, 10, 193; used on Continent, 
90-91; used in France, Switzerland, 
Italy, 325; European silk industry, 270. 



412 



INDEX 



Harness, loom, 81-82. 

Havre cotton market, 357, 359-360. 

Heddles, 81. 

Hedging, in England, 357; in France, 360; 

in Germany, 359; in United States, 

187-190. 
Home trade houses, 367-368. 
Humidity, 93, 276, 314. 

Immigrants, 13, 11 8-1 23, 147; attempts 
to secure, in South, 47; effect on labor 
unions, 125-128, 308; influence on 
technical development, 54, 73, 99; 
in knit-goods industry, no, 122; 
and the tariff, 250, 259; and textile 
education, 137-138, 311. 

Importers, 233-234, 378-379- (See also 
Buyers.) Supply capital for early 
mills, 4-5, 196. 

Imports, ch. xiii, xiv; prior to i860, 14; 
1860-1910, 234; in 1910, 22; auction 
sales in New York, 201-202; knit 
goods, 253; methods of trade, 232- 

234. 

Indian cotton, sale of, 358. 

Inspection, cloth, 98. 

Insurance, 159, 160. 

International Cotton Mills Corporation, 
164-166. 

International Federation of Master 
Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' 
Associations, 337-339. 

Inventions, ch. iv, v; in England and 
United States, 64; influence of labor 
conditions, 13, 54, 72; need of, 9. 

Italy, employers' associations, 337; hand 
loom, 91; labor conditions, 289; legis- 
lation, 291; unions, 293; wages, 296- 
304; location of mills, 284; scale of 
production, 325. 

Jobbers, 198; opposition to auctions, 201. 

Knit goods, ch. v, xiv, xx; centres of pro- 
duction, 31-32, 149; employment of 
immigrants, no, 122; import trade, 
253-254; methods of selling, 218; 
production in United States, 23-26,; 



153; scale of production, 144-145; 
tariff, 254-261. {See also England, 
France, Germany.) 
Knotter, Barber, 75, 301. 

Labor, ch. vi, xvii; attitude toward new 
machinery, 293-294; comparative cost, 
304-305; conditions in New England 
before i860, 7-8; conditions in South, 
39-45; greater productivity in United 
States, n, 294-305; influence on 
technical development, 13, 54, 99; 
proportion of men, women, and chil- 
dren, 1 1 2-1 15, 287-289; supply in 
South, 46-47. {See also Child labor.) 

Labor legislation, 1 1 5-1 1 7 ; lack of, before 
i860, 12; in England, 93, 288-291; 
in France, 290; in Germany, 290; in 
Switzerland, 290-291. 

Labor unions, 123-128, 308; in England, 
291-292, 305-308, 334; in France, 
293; in Germany, 292-293; in spin- 
ning, 73-74; in Switzerland, 293; 
and textile education, 138-139. 

Lace production in United States, 22; 
imports and tariff, 238; Nottingham 
market, 372-373. 

Lancashire, 93; advantages, 276-277. 

Latch needle, 105, 106. 

Lawrence, 28, 29, 148. 

Lawrence Industrial School, 137-138. 

Lee, William, stocking frame, 101. 

Linen, competition of cotton with, 271. 

Liverpool market, 354-357. 

Localization, 8, 28-31, lack of, in South, 
39. {See also England, France, Ger- 
many.) 

Loom, dobby, Sy, drop-box, 80, 83, 87- 
89; English, introduced, 6, 83 ; higher 
speed in England, 20, 89, 314; im- 
provements in, 10, 83-93, 99; inven- 
tion by Lowell, 5, 83; under-pi ck and 
over-pick, 89, 314. {See also Auto- 
matic loom, Northrop loom, Hand 
loom.) 

Loop cutter, 98. 

Lowell, 28, 29, 149. 

Lowell Textile School, 136. 



INDEX 



413 



Machinery manufacturers, stock in 
southern mills, 50; in Lancashire 
mills, 317. 

Manchester, England, raw cotton mar- 
ket, 354-355; Royal Exchange, 319, 
361, 371; Ship Canal, 285, 355; Test- 
ing House, 370. 

Manchester, N. H., 28, 29. 

Margin, manufacturing, 173. 

Mercerizing, 97, 152. 

Merchant-converter. (See Converter.) 

Middle States, growth of industry in, 
7, 8, 30-32. 

Mill, cost of, 262-263, 317. 

Morton Automatic Distributor, 57. 

Mule, 9-10, 65-74, 313; product, 75, 
86. 

Mule spinner, wages, 299-301. 

Miilhausen, 99, 279, 280, 285, 374, 376; 
Borse, 377. 

National Association of Cotton Manu- 
facturers, 155. 

Negro, possibilities as mill operative, 
47-48. 

New Bedford, 28-30, 149; selling direct, 
208. 

New Bedford Textile School, 136-137. 

New England, branches established in 
the South, 50-51; character of prod- 
uct, 146-147; competition from 
South, 52-53; early advantages, 7; 
growth of industry in, 8, 27-30; scale 
of production, 141. 

New England Cotton Freight Claim 
Bureau, 158-159. 

New England Cotton Manufacturers' 
Association, 155. 

New England Cotton Yarn Company, 
166-168, 171. 

New England Society for the Promotion 
of Manufactures and the Mechanic 
Arts, 199. 

New York as a dry goods market, 200- 
201,218; cloth brokers, 215. 

New York Cotton Exchange, contract, 
186-187; functions, 191; spot sales, 
184-185. 



North, growth compared with that of 

South, 34, 51-53. 
Northrop loom, 84-88, 221; attitude of 

weavers, 294; in England, 92; in 

France, 92-93. 
Nottingham, 347; hand knitting frames, 

108; market, 372-373. 

Ocean freight rates, 284-285. 
Opener, 56-58. 

Packers, England, 369-370. 

Packing for export, 227. 

Paris, designing, 95, 99; market, 384. 

Perkin, invention of artificial dye, 95. 

Philadelphia, 149; early market, 194, 

200; growth of industry in, 31. 
Philadelphia Textile School, 135. 
Picker, 57-50- 
Picker tender, wages, 296. 
Plauen trade, 381-382. 
Pool, print cloth, 206-207. 
Prices, changes in, 265-268; effect of 

tariff on, 251. 
Printing, 94-95, 152, i53> 205, 216-217, 

314-315; in England, 328, 331; in 

Germany, 330, 331. 
Product, character of, before i860, 14; 

since i860, 21; in South, 35-36, 51, 

146-147, 149. 
Profits, 262-265. 
Promotion, of southern mills, 50-51; of 

English mills, 317-318. 
Putting-out system, 193-194, 325, 348- 

352. 

Quiller, 77. 

Railway-head, 62. 

Rieger, W., list of mills, 90. 

Ring spindle, invention, 9; improve- 
ment of, 65-74; product, 75, 86; use 
on the Continent, 313. 

Ring spinner, wages, 298-299. 

Risk, average compensation for, 385. 

Room and power system, 322-323. 

Rylands and Sons, 345, 367. 



4H 



INDEX 



Scale of production, 140-145, 332; on 
Continent, 7, 8, 230, 315, 331-332; 
in England, 92, 230, 315, 320-323; 
finishing, 152; in France, 324-325; 
in Germany, 323-324; influence on 
market organization, 379, 381, 385; 
in South, 35, 143-144; in United 
States, 8, 19, 95-97, 99, 213, 229, 315, 
319, 326. 

Scale of production, knit goods, 144- 
145; in Germany, 108, 349~352- 

Seamless automatic knitting machine, 
104-107, in. 

Seasonal designs, 212-213. 

Selling agent. (See Selling house.) 

Selling house, 209-215; aid to southern 
mills, 50, 210; as distributor, 197-198; 
financial assistance, 197-198, 210; 
granting credit, 204, 211; in France, 
382-383; integration, 172-174; mem- 
ber acts as treasurer of mills, 178; 
origin, 196; ownership of stock in 
mills, 196, 211, 219. (See also Com- 
mission agent.) 

Sewing machine, 98. 

Shearing machinery, 98. 

Shippers, English, 368-369. 

Shuttle, self- threading, 85. 

Silk industry, use of cotton, 270. 

Singeing, 98. 

Sizing, 55-56, 68, 72, 77~8o. 

Slasher, 77-80. 

Slater, Samuel, 3, 194. 

Slavery, extension aided by northern 
credit, 197; influence on manufac- 
turing, 32, 33. 

Small- wares, 22-23. 

South America, as market, 222, 223. 

Southern mills, 32-53; capital for, 
49-50, 209; character of product, 35- 
36, 51, 146-147, 149; cloth finished in 
North, 152; dependence upon selling 
houses, 209-211; equipment, 49; 
growth, 32-53; labor conditions, 39- 
45, 113; production for export, 221; 
purchase of raw cotton, 182-183; size, 
143-144; treasurers of, 177; use of 
ring spindle, 73. 



Speeder, 63. 

Spindles, number in different countries 
in 1910, 275. 

Spinning, 65-74, 313-314; combined 
with weaving, 150-151; specialization 
in England, 326-327; in France, 330; 
in Germany, 329. 

Spinner, wages, 298-301. 

Spool cotton, import duties, 237. (See 
also American Thread Company.) 

Spooler, 74-75, 3H- 

Spooler tender, wages, 301-302. 

Spring-beard needle, 105, 107. 

Standardization, 99, 153, 353. 

Steaming, 93. 

Stock taken by machinery manufactur- 
ers and agents, 51, 317-318. 

Stop-motions, 9, 62, 63, 84, 85, 302, 
3U- 

Straw's Patent, 77, 96. 

Strikes, 126-127. 

Stuttgart, Borse, 377. 

Superintendent, duties, 177. 

Switzerland, employers' associations, 
337; exports of embroideries and lace 
to United States, 238; hand loom, 90, 
325; labor legislation, 290-291; unions, 
293; wages, 296-304; location of 
mills, 284; scale of production, 325; 
spindles in 1910, 275. 

Synthetic dyes. (See Coal tar dyes.) 

Tariff, 99-100; of 1816, 5; change of 
attitude in New England, 1824-1832, 
197; influence prior to i860, 14-15; 
increases cost of mill, 317; free importa- 
tion of labor, 122-123, 250; less 
important than inventive ability, 100, 
in; on cloth, 147, 239-252; on knit 
goods, 254-261; on lace, 238; on 
thread, 237; on yarn, 235-237. 

Taxation, exemption from, in South, 39. 

Temples, 83. 

Testing House, Manchester, 370. 

Thread, import duties, 237. 

Treasurer, duties of, 176-179, 206; mem- 
ber of selling house, 178. 

Troyes, 347, 352. 



INDEX 



415 



United Dry Goods Company, 174-175. 
United States Finishing Company, 168- 
169. - 

Wages, 128-133; American and Euro- 
pean, 294-305; northern and south- 
ern, 46. 

Wages agreements, in England, 305- 
308; in Fall River, 131-133. 

Warper, 55, 76-77. 

Warper tender, wages, 302. 

Warp stop-motions, 84, 85, 302, 314. 

Warp-drawing machine, 82. 

Warp-tying machine, 81, 314. 

Waste, relatively high in American 
mills, 60. 

Water power, 285; in France, 281; in 



Germany, 278, 279; in Italy, 284; in 
New England, 7, 28-29 ; in South, 
38. 

Wearing apparel, import duties, 239. 

Weaver, productivity of , 83-87; wages, 
130, 302-304. 

Weaving, 80-93; combined with spin- 
ning, 150-151; specialization in Eng- 
land, 327; in France, 330; in Ger- 
many, 329. 

Wellman card, 59. 

Winding, 74~75- 

Winder, wages, 301-302. 

Wool manufacturing, use of cotton, 
268-269. 

Yarn, import duties, 235-237. 




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